The literature lends empirical support for the idea that improvements to transport infrastructure lead to economic development. How and why the benefits of better transport differ between genders is less clear. This paper attempts to answer this question by combining a nonexperimental impact...

Rural accessibility is the only metric used in the Sustainable Development Goals to track progress toward better transport services in low- and middle-income countries. This paper estimates the rural accessibility index, defined as the proportion of the rural population who live within 2...

This study analyzes the impacts of the recent rural road development in Ethiopia on welfare and economic outcomes. The identification of the impacts relies on a difference-in-differences matching approach, taking advantage of the nationally representative household survey and the original road...

Nearly one billion people worldwide live in rural areas without access to the paved road network. This paper measures the impacts of India's USD 40 billion national rural road construction program using regression discontinuity and data covering every individual and firm in rural India. The main...

This paper develops and applies a spatial econometric model that links road upgrading to forest clearing and biodiversity loss in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The paper uses 500-meter cells to estimate the relationship between the rate of forest clearing in a cell and its distance to...

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, remarked that the past-quarter century has to count as the most successful 25 years in history in the fight against poverty. The one region that has so far been conspicuously left behind by that progress is Sub-Saharan Africa. The people of Africa are...

The objective of this study is to assess the impact of the East-West Highway improvement program on Georgia's ability to access international markets. As highlighted extensively in the literature, improving transport infrastructure and the efficiency of the logistics sector can help countries...

This report consolidates the findings and recommendations from studies on climate resilient road assets in Albania, financed through a grant provided by the Global facility for disaster reduction and recovery (GFDRR). The objective of the work is to assist the Albanian authorities in the...

In pursuit of economic and social development objectives, governments of Pacific Island Countries (PICs) desire to upgrade unpaved low-volume roads (LVRs) for the improvement in connectivity and quality of life associated with all weather-access. Whilst the benefits are clear, the capital cost...