Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh

This paper studies the effects of a large reduction in transport costs on agricultural development in a developing country, with a focus on the interactions among the comparative advantage and transport costs of a location, and the transport intens...

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Main Authors: Blankespoor, Brian, Emran, M. Shahe, Shilpi, Forhad, Xu, Lu
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/500021531164598732/Transport-costs-comparative-advantage-and-agricultural-development-evidence-from-Jamuna-bridge-in-Bangladesh
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29982
id okr-10986-29982
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-299822021-06-08T14:42:46Z Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh Blankespoor, Brian Emran, M. Shahe Shilpi, Forhad Xu, Lu TRANSPORT COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY TRADE COSTS LAND USE TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION CROPPING INTENSITY AGRICULTURE BRIDGES TRANSPORT COSTS LAND ALLOCATION LAND PRODUCTIVITY MARKET ACCESS This paper studies the effects of a large reduction in transport costs on agricultural development in a developing country, with a focus on the interactions among the comparative advantage and transport costs of a location, and the transport intensity and value of a commodity. The paper extends the von Thunen model of land allocation to incorporate costly technology adoption and comparative advantage based on land productivity. The theoretical analysis predicts spatial non-linearity in cropland allocation. A reduction in transport costs leads to adoption of productivity-enhancing inputs in the newly-connected region, and an increase in the share of land devoted to the high-value transport-intensive crop. The strongest effect is felt in areas that are not too near or too far from the center and have a higher land productivity in transport intensive crop. The empirical context of the analysis is the Jamuna bridge in Bangladesh, which opened in 1998 and reduced the transport costs from the poor hinterland in the northwest to the capital city (Dhaka) by more than 50 percent. Using sub-district level panel data, the paper implements doubly robust estimators in a difference-in-difference design. The analysis finds that the construction of Jamuna bridge led to increased adoption of technology (fertilizer, irrigation, greenness, and cropping intensity) and reallocation of land from low-value and nonperishable rice to high-value crops, pulses, and vegetables. The evidence indicates spatial nonlinearity in the effects on cropping intensity and the reallocation of land in areas with comparative advantage in vegetable production. For cropping intensity, the magnitude of the effect is large in the intermediate distance (130-150 kilometers) from the bridge. In areas with relatively higher vegetable productivity, land allocated to rice declined, and land was reallocated from high-yielding variety rice to vegetables in the intermediate distance (110-150 kilometers). This improved productive efficiency by aligning the cropping pattern more closely with comparative advantage. The bridge thus led to agricultural development through technology adoption, higher cropping intensity, and reducing the spatial mismatch between land suitability and crop choice. 2018-07-13T20:50:55Z 2018-07-13T20:50:55Z 2018-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/500021531164598732/Transport-costs-comparative-advantage-and-agricultural-development-evidence-from-Jamuna-bridge-in-Bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29982 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8509 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 South Asia Bangladesh
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRANSPORT
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY
TRADE COSTS
LAND USE
TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
CROPPING INTENSITY
AGRICULTURE
BRIDGES
TRANSPORT COSTS
LAND ALLOCATION
LAND PRODUCTIVITY
MARKET ACCESS
spellingShingle TRANSPORT
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY
TRADE COSTS
LAND USE
TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
CROPPING INTENSITY
AGRICULTURE
BRIDGES
TRANSPORT COSTS
LAND ALLOCATION
LAND PRODUCTIVITY
MARKET ACCESS
Blankespoor, Brian
Emran, M. Shahe
Shilpi, Forhad
Xu, Lu
Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
geographic_facet South Asia
Bangladesh
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8509
description This paper studies the effects of a large reduction in transport costs on agricultural development in a developing country, with a focus on the interactions among the comparative advantage and transport costs of a location, and the transport intensity and value of a commodity. The paper extends the von Thunen model of land allocation to incorporate costly technology adoption and comparative advantage based on land productivity. The theoretical analysis predicts spatial non-linearity in cropland allocation. A reduction in transport costs leads to adoption of productivity-enhancing inputs in the newly-connected region, and an increase in the share of land devoted to the high-value transport-intensive crop. The strongest effect is felt in areas that are not too near or too far from the center and have a higher land productivity in transport intensive crop. The empirical context of the analysis is the Jamuna bridge in Bangladesh, which opened in 1998 and reduced the transport costs from the poor hinterland in the northwest to the capital city (Dhaka) by more than 50 percent. Using sub-district level panel data, the paper implements doubly robust estimators in a difference-in-difference design. The analysis finds that the construction of Jamuna bridge led to increased adoption of technology (fertilizer, irrigation, greenness, and cropping intensity) and reallocation of land from low-value and nonperishable rice to high-value crops, pulses, and vegetables. The evidence indicates spatial nonlinearity in the effects on cropping intensity and the reallocation of land in areas with comparative advantage in vegetable production. For cropping intensity, the magnitude of the effect is large in the intermediate distance (130-150 kilometers) from the bridge. In areas with relatively higher vegetable productivity, land allocated to rice declined, and land was reallocated from high-yielding variety rice to vegetables in the intermediate distance (110-150 kilometers). This improved productive efficiency by aligning the cropping pattern more closely with comparative advantage. The bridge thus led to agricultural development through technology adoption, higher cropping intensity, and reducing the spatial mismatch between land suitability and crop choice.
format Working Paper
author Blankespoor, Brian
Emran, M. Shahe
Shilpi, Forhad
Xu, Lu
author_facet Blankespoor, Brian
Emran, M. Shahe
Shilpi, Forhad
Xu, Lu
author_sort Blankespoor, Brian
title Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
title_short Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
title_full Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
title_fullStr Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Transport Costs, Comparative Advantage, and Agricultural Development : Evidence from Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh
title_sort transport costs, comparative advantage, and agricultural development : evidence from jamuna bridge in bangladesh
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/500021531164598732/Transport-costs-comparative-advantage-and-agricultural-development-evidence-from-Jamuna-bridge-in-Bangladesh
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29982
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