Transport Policies and Development

Berg, Claudia N.; Deichmann, Uwe; Liu, Yishen; Selod, Harris

doi:10.1080/00220388.2016.1199857

Cited by 112 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…Despite negative environmental, social, and cultural effects, governments and development banks continue to prioritize expanding the Amazon road network as a means to increase employment opportunities and mobility, reduce transport costs, and support regional development (17). One current example is the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America's most recent development plan, which includes nine large road projects in the Amazon, to be completed by 2026, with a total proposed investment of US$ 9.4 billion (18).…”

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confidence: 99%

A better Amazon road network for people and the environment

Vilela¹,

Harb²,

Bruner³

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The rapidly expanding network of roads into the Amazon is permanently altering the world’s largest tropical forest. Most proposed road projects lack rigorous impact assessments or even basic economic justification. This study analyzes the expected environmental, social and economic impacts of 75 road projects, totaling 12 thousand kilometers of planned roads, in the region. We find that all projects, although in different magnitudes, will negatively impact the environment. Forty-five percent will also generate economic losses, even without accounting for social and environmental externalities. Canceling economically unjustified projects would avoid 1.1 million hectares of deforestation and US$ 7.6 billion in wasted funding for development projects. For projects that exceed a basic economic viability threshold, we identify the ones that are comparatively better not only in terms of economic return but also have lower social and environmental impacts. We find that a smaller set of carefully chosen projects could deliver 77% of the economic benefit at 10% of the environmental and social damage, showing that it is possible to have efficient tradeoff decisions informed by legitimately determined national priorities.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

A better Amazon road network for people and the environment

Vilela¹,

Harb²,

Bruner³

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Finally, the typical paper pays strong attention to trying to address the issue of biased estimation of impacts arising from the endogenous placement of transport infrastructure. Indeed, addressing this issue has become the literature's overwhelming empirical concern (Berg et al, ; Redding & Turner, ). Endogenous placement concerns arise from the fact that the locations that policymakers chose to link with transport infrastructure are not random.…”

Section: Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In parallel with rising interest among policymakers in appraising and prioritizing transport corridors, there has been a surge of academic interest in empirically evaluating the economic, social, and environmental impacts of large transport infrastructure projects (Berg, Deichmann, Liu, & Selod, ; Laird & Venables, ; Redding & Turner, ). This surge has, at least partly, been driven by improved techniques for rigorously evaluating the economic impacts of these investments, as well as recently completed large‐scale investments in transportation networks by countries such as China and India.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notable recent reviews of literature on the impacts of large transport infrastructure projects include Redding and Turner () and Berg et al (). In both cases, the authors present qualitative reviews of the literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also exclude literature in which more general transport-related variables appear in the empirical estimation, but these are either not related to evaluating the impacts of a particular transport infrastructure project and/or they appear as one of several general variables of interest. 6 Notable recent reviews of literature on the impacts of large transport infrastructure projects include Redding and Turner (2014) and Berg et al (2017). In both cases, the authors present qualitative reviews of the literature.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Transport corridors and their wider economic benefits: A quantitative review of the literature

Roberts¹,

Melecký

Bougna

et al. 2019

Journal of Regional Science

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Transport corridors can generate both wider economic benefits (WEBs) and costs through their effects on diverse development outcomes. To advance understanding of how corridors could generate WEBs, this paper undertakes a quantitative review and meta‐analysis of the literature that estimates the impacts of large transport infrastructure projects. The analysis finds that characteristics of individual studies and the design of the transport infrastructure influence estimated benefits. It also shows that, on average, while corridor interventions tend to benefit economic welfare and equity, they often detrimentally impact the environment. To mitigate trade‐offs, policymakers can consider using complementary interventions.

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PROTOCOL: Evidence and gap map: studies of the effectiveness of transport sector interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Malhotra

White

Cruz

et al. 2021

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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BACKGROUND 1 1.1 | The condition Context: In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz Michela Wrong describeswalking down the overgrown disused railway which years before had been part of a network linking DRC's copper mines to ports in Angola and South Africa. Despite new investments in the last decade-the Benguela Railway link from DRC to Angola reopened in 2018 after being closed for 34 years 2 -Africa's rail system is small compared to that in other parts of the world, and a substantial part of what there is not used (Bullock, 2009). The poor state of railway transport in Africa-and the unrealised potential of inland waterways-puts excess pressure on the fragile road transport system, so that transport costs-which are increased by uncompetitive practices-are a break on African development.While much of Africa is an extreme case, inadequate transport infrastructure is an issue across much of the developing world.There are great disparities in the quantity and quality of infrastructure. European countries such as Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK have close to 200 km of road per 100 km 2 , and the Netherlands over 300 km per 100 km 2 . By contrast, Kenya and Indonesia have <30, Laos and Morocco <20, Tanzania and Bolivia <10, and Mauritania only 1 km per 100 km 2 . 3 As these figures show, there is a significant backlog of transport infrastructure investment in both rural and urban areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (Foster & Bricenõ-Garmendia, 2010). The situation is often exacerbated by weak governance and an inadequate regulatory framework with poor enforcement which lead to high costs and defective construction.The wellbeing of many poor people is constrained by lack of transport, which is called "transport poverty." Lucas et al. (2016) suggest that up to 90% of the world's population are transport poor when defined as meeting at least one of the following criteria: (1) lack of available suitable transport, (2) lack of transport to necessary destinations, (3) cost of necessary transport puts household below income poverty line, (4) excessive travel time, or (5) travel conditions unsafe or unhealthy.

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Transport Policies and Development

Cited by 112 publications

References 110 publications

A better Amazon road network for people and the environment

A better Amazon road network for people and the environment

Transport corridors and their wider economic benefits: A quantitative review of the literature

PROTOCOL: Evidence and gap map: studies of the effectiveness of transport sector interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries

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