Comments on: Roads to Development?

By: bright apollo

bright apollo — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:52:39 +0000

Right, thank you for clarifying my flippant remark. Halfway through it, chilling coldblooded analysis of fallback planning and containment strategies. Explains a few things.

By: Marc F. Bellemare

Marc F. Bellemare — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:45:27 +0000

Living — not born — on the wrong side of the tracks.

By: bright apollo

bright apollo — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:38:56 +0000

So, someone really did do a study on “born on the wrong side of the tracks”?

By: Marc F. Bellemare

Marc F. Bellemare — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:06:34 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Christopher. In that spirit, I think you might also be interested in my colleague Liz Ananat's paper in AEJ: Applied, in which she uses the presence of railroads to exogenize the degree of segregation in a city in order to study the causal impact of segregation on poverty. You can find it here: http://www.npc.umich.edu/news/events/econshocks/Ananat_Railroads_and_Segregation_21_Sept_2008.pdf

By: bright apollo

bright apollo — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:01:32 +0000

I have an interesting data point to illustrate. Take the busiest passenger rail tracks — NYC to PHL — and look at all of the old industry and side rails connected to it. There are dozens of old factories, warehouses, and cheap housing along the trackage, archaeological evidence waiting to prove or disprove either side of the discussion.

By: Marc F. Bellemare

Marc F. Bellemare — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:43:06 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Tobias. There are also environmental impacts to roads, whether it’s deforestation or increased pollution because of the fossil fuels used. That said, like any other policy interventions, roads involve trade-offs. You are right, however, that the research deck has mostly been stacked in favor of showing the positives. It would be very interesting to see studies looking at a host of “welfare” impacts, e.g., health, social capital, incomes, etc.

By: aidnography

aidnography — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:36:41 +0000

Especially when compared to the initial, pre-globalization study you cite, I was reminded of a study on rural roads and transportation in Nepal (which I can’t seem to find at the moment…). In addition to some benefits, what also became obvious was that road access had some social cost attached to it. Truck drivers and HIV/AIDS, increase in prostitution and drinking-related incidences (again, mostly truck drivers and ‘outsiders’), but also cheap outside products that distorted local markets. The improved access also encouraged young men to leave the area, seeking employment elsewhere (+ remittances, – social fabric and rural agriculture suffered); I do see the benefits of road schemes and improved transportation, but there is an impact and I wonder whether some (development) economist tend to overlook detrimental effects of connectivity to global markets and ideas.