Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia

Transport connectivity is among the most important factors in increasing firm productivity and accelerating economic development. The literature generally supports the idea of agglomeration economies, although there is little evidence of their effe...

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Main Authors: Iimi, Atsushi, Rao, Kulwinder
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/327291524055808723/Firm-location-transport-connectivity-and-agglomeration-economies-Evidence-from-Liberia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29713
id okr-10986-29713
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-297132022-03-13T01:39:15Z Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia Iimi, Atsushi Rao, Kulwinder TRANSPORT REGIONAL INTEGRATION SPATIAL ANALYSIS FIRM LOCATION LOGIT MODEL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT MARKET ACCESS REMOTE AREA UNPAVED ROAD URBANIZATION Transport connectivity is among the most important factors in increasing firm productivity and accelerating economic development. The literature generally supports the idea of agglomeration economies, although there is little evidence of their effectiveness in Africa. There are often empirical challenges, such as spatial externalities and endogeneity of infrastructure development. Using firm registry data in Liberia, this study used the instrumental variable spatial autoregressive model to examine the effects of transport connectivity on firms' decisions on where to locate. The study found significant spatial autocorrelation and possible endogeneity related to transport infrastructure, and that firms are more likely to be located where market accessibility is better. The data indicated strong agglomeration economies, indicating that the primary city, Monrovia, is likely to continue to grow and attract more people and firms, and that secondary cities can also grow with greater transport connectivity between populated areas, such as district centers. 2018-04-20T15:33:00Z 2018-04-20T15:33:00Z 2018-04 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/327291524055808723/Firm-location-transport-connectivity-and-agglomeration-economies-Evidence-from-Liberia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29713 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8411 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Liberia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRANSPORT
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
SPATIAL ANALYSIS
FIRM LOCATION
LOGIT MODEL
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
MARKET ACCESS
REMOTE AREA
UNPAVED ROAD
URBANIZATION
spellingShingle TRANSPORT
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
SPATIAL ANALYSIS
FIRM LOCATION
LOGIT MODEL
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
MARKET ACCESS
REMOTE AREA
UNPAVED ROAD
URBANIZATION
Iimi, Atsushi
Rao, Kulwinder
Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
geographic_facet Africa
Liberia
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8411
description Transport connectivity is among the most important factors in increasing firm productivity and accelerating economic development. The literature generally supports the idea of agglomeration economies, although there is little evidence of their effectiveness in Africa. There are often empirical challenges, such as spatial externalities and endogeneity of infrastructure development. Using firm registry data in Liberia, this study used the instrumental variable spatial autoregressive model to examine the effects of transport connectivity on firms' decisions on where to locate. The study found significant spatial autocorrelation and possible endogeneity related to transport infrastructure, and that firms are more likely to be located where market accessibility is better. The data indicated strong agglomeration economies, indicating that the primary city, Monrovia, is likely to continue to grow and attract more people and firms, and that secondary cities can also grow with greater transport connectivity between populated areas, such as district centers.
format Working Paper
author Iimi, Atsushi
Rao, Kulwinder
author_facet Iimi, Atsushi
Rao, Kulwinder
author_sort Iimi, Atsushi
title Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
title_short Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
title_full Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
title_fullStr Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
title_full_unstemmed Firm Location, Transport Connectivity, and Agglomeration Economies : Evidence from Liberia
title_sort firm location, transport connectivity, and agglomeration economies : evidence from liberia
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/327291524055808723/Firm-location-transport-connectivity-and-agglomeration-economies-Evidence-from-Liberia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29713
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