Roads, Electricity, and Jobs : Evidence of Infrastructure Complementarity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Evidence for road expansion and electrification as drivers of job creation is limited and mixed, with most studies having considered either one or the other, and only in isolation. This paper estimates the average and heterogeneous impacts of road...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/970271647884335950/Roads-Electricity-and-Jobs-Evidence-of-Infrastructure-Complementarity-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37201 |
| Summary: | Evidence for road expansion and
electrification as drivers of job creation is limited and
mixed, with most studies having considered either one or the
other, and only in isolation. This paper estimates the
average and heterogeneous impacts of road and electricity
investments and the interaction of the two on job creation
over the past two decades in 27 countries of sub-Saharan
Africa. Exploiting the exogenous location of ancestral
ethnic homelands, a new instrumental variable is created for
road accessibility, inspired by post-independence
leaders' agenda of building roads to extend authority
over the entire expanse of their country, and to promote
nation building. Topography and lightning strikes—a key
source of damage to electric lines and disruption of
service—are used to instrument electricity supply. The paper
finds positive and significant effects on employment from
enhancing proximity to roads and to electric grids.
Moreover, the interaction of the two enhances the effects,
making them complementary investments. The impacts of both
individual and bundled investments are positive, but with
differences between men and women, workers of various ages,
and countries at different stages of development. In urban
areas, better access to roads and electricity promotes all
types of employment. In rural areas, greater access induces
a transition from low- to high-skilled occupations. These
differential effects suggest that the structural
transformation brought about by road and electricity
expansion is primarily a rural phenomenon. |
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