IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcecon/v54y2026i2p350-366.html

Road to division: Ethnic favoritism and road infrastructure in Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Perra, Elena

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of ethnic favoritism in the long run allocation of road infrastructure in Ethiopia. I construct a 5 km2 grid cell panel by merging road network data from the late 1960s to 2016 with high resolution maps of local ethnic composition. Using a quasi-experimental empirical design, the study finds that cells where the local majority shares the ethnicity with the ruling elite receive 8.7 percent additional road investments and see a 13.8 improvement in road surface quality than otherwise comparable non co-ethnic cells. Exploiting the phased rollout of the Road Sector Development Program between 1997 and 2016, I also document that new roads raise night lights intensity by 0.27 standard deviations in cells benefiting from the program and by 0.51 standard deviations in co-ethnic areas, with larger effects for earlier investments. These findings suggest that ethnic alignment and the availability of large public funds jointly shape the placement of road infrastructure, influencing local economic dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Perra, Elena, 2026. "Road to division: Ethnic favoritism and road infrastructure in Ethiopia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 350-366.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:54:y:2026:i:2:p:350-366
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2025.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596725001003
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jce.2025.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:54:y:2026:i:2:p:350-366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622864 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.