IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hes/wpaper/0268.html

Flooding Away the Economic Gains from Transport Infrastructure: Evidence from Colonial Jamaica

Author

Listed:
  • Joel Huesler

    (University of Bern)

  • Eric Strobl

    (University of Bern)

Abstract

We investigate how the frequent flooding that damaged the internal transport infrastructure in late 19th and early 20th colonial Jamaica affected local economies. To this end the evolution of the road and railways transport system was geo-referenced and combined with geo-localized damaging flood events, as well as with information on local economic activity proxied by internal tax revenue. Econometric analysis on our 30 year parish level time varying data set shows that lower market access from the flood disruptions to transport reduced tax revenue on average by 3.5%, and during some incidences up to 9.1%, over its two year impact. Decomposing the tax data by source suggests that both the property and the non-agricultural service sectors suffered after damaging floods. In contrast, flood disruptions benefited the agricultural sector, although only agricultural traders and not producers appear to have gained from investments in the transport network in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Joel Huesler & Eric Strobl, 2024. "Flooding Away the Economic Gains from Transport Infrastructure: Evidence from Colonial Jamaica," Working Papers 0268, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0268
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_268.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Soyres, François & Mulabdic, Alen & Ruta, Michele, 2020. "Common transport infrastructure: A quantitative model and estimates from the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Dave Donaldson & Richard Hornbeck, 2016. "Railroads and American Economic Growth: A "Market Access" Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 799-858.
    3. Bogart, Dan & You, Xuesheng & Alvarez-Palau, Eduard J. & Satchell, Max & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh, 2022. "Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    4. Jeremy Atack & Robert A. Margo, 2009. "Agricultural Improvements and Access to Rail Transportation: The American Midwest as a Test Case, 1850-1860," NBER Working Papers 15520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Fernihough, Alan & Lyons, Ronan C., 2022. "Agglomeration and Emigration: The Economic Impact of Railways in Post-Famine Ireland," CEPR Discussion Papers 17759, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Bianchi, Nicola & Giorcelli, Michela, 2023. "Reconstruction Aid, Public Infrastructure, and Economic Development: The Case of the Marshall Plan in Italy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(2), pages 501-537, June.
    7. L. Alan Winters & Antonio Martuscelli, 2014. "Trade Liberalization and Poverty: What Have We Learned in a Decade?," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 493-512, October.
    8. H. A. Will, 1970. "Colonial Policy and Economic Development in the British West Indies, 1895–1903," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 23(1), pages 129-143, April.
    9. Dino Collalti & Eric Strobl, 2022. "Economic damages due to extreme precipitation during tropical storms: evidence from Jamaica," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(3), pages 2059-2086, February.
    10. Elisabeth Ruth Perlman, 2015. "Dense Enough To Be Brilliant: Patents, Urbanization, and Transportation in Nineteenth Century America," CEH Discussion Papers 036, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schlosser, Julia, 2026. "The impact of extreme climate events and agricultural diversification in the British West Indies, 1850–1960," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Huesler, Joel, 2025. "Natural disasters, missing pupils: Evidence from colonial Jamaica’s school system," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neubert, Magnus & Nikolić, Stefan, 2026. "Why railways fail: Colonial railways and economic development in Habsburg Bosnia–Herzegovina," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    2. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    3. Pauly, Stefan & Stipanicic, Fernando, 2021. "The creation and diffusion of knowledge: Evidence from the Jet Age," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2112, CEPREMAP.
    4. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel & Herranz-Loncán, Alfonso & Tassinari, Filippo & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2023. "Paving the way to modern growth: The Spanish Bourbon roads," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Martin Fiszbein, 2017. "Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change and Long-run Development: Evidence from the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Adrian Mehic, 2026. "Infrastructure expansion, tourism and electoral outcomes," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 93(371), pages 757-776, July.
    7. Yit Wey Liew & Muhammad Habibur Rahman & Audrey Kim Lan Siah, 2026. "Colonial origins of agglomeration: Evidence from Malayan rail stations," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 79(1), pages 221-246, February.
    8. He, Guojun & Xie, Yang & Zhang, Bing, 2020. "Expressways, GDP, and the environment: The case of China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    9. Talebian, Ahmadreza & Zou, Bo & Hansen, Mark, 2018. "Assessing the impacts of state-supported rail services on local population and employment: A California case study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 108-121.
    10. Nicholas Sheard, 2022. "The Railway Gauge Muddle in Australia," Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre Working Papers g-327, Victoria University, Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre.
    11. Yamasaki, Junichi, 2025. "Railroads and technology adoption in Meiji Japan," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    12. Xingjian Ding & Yumin Hu & Shilei Liu & Cong Peng & Jintao Xu & Mingzhi (Jimmy) Xu & Qinghua Zhang, 2026. "Green gains from connectivity: highway expansion and forest quality," CEP Discussion Papers dp2162, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Chang Song & Yibing Ding & Yingjie Fu & Jingyi Liu, 2025. "International Transport Corridors and the Growth of China's Environmental Goods Exports: Evidence from the China–Europe Railway Express," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 33(2), pages 98-137, March.
    14. Gibbons, Stephen & Heblich, Stephan & Pinchbeck, Edward W., 2024. "The spatial impacts of a massive rail disinvestment program: The Beeching Axe," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    15. Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas, 2017. "The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age," Working Papers 2017-6, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    16. Fernihough, Alan, 2024. "Economic Geography and the Irish Border: A Market Access Approach," QBS Working Paper Series 2024/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    17. Neubert, Magnus & Nikolić, Stefan, 2026. "Why railways fail: Colonial railways and economic development in Habsburg Bosnia–Herzegovina," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 181, pages 1-17.
    18. Ahmad, Zofia & Chicoine, Luke, 2021. "Silk Roads to Riches: Persistence Along an Ancient Trade Network," MPRA Paper 105146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Lionel Fontagné & Mathilde Lebrand & Siobhan Murray & Michele Ruta & Gianluca Santoni, 2023. "Trade and Infrastructure Integration in Africa," Working Papers 2023-14, CEPII research center.
    20. Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata & Wei, Jinlin, 2023. "Railways and cities in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hes:wpaper:0268. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Christian Vedel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehessea.html .

    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.