Do urban agglomeration economies enhance the social profitability of rural roads? When all goods are traded at parametric world prices, lower transport costs benefit villagers. Urban activities and welfare are unaffected if labour is immobile, but their levels fall when rural workers move freely...

Areas with limited transport accessibility are considered to mean territories lacking year-round roads and routes, such as railroads, motor roads, sea routes, and inland waterways. Siberia, as Russia's largest macroregion, has within its boundaries huge territories difficult of access, where...