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The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay

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Listed:
  • Gonzalez, Felipe

    (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

  • Miquel-Florensa, Josepa
  • Prem, Mounu
  • Straub, Stéphane

Abstract

Transportation infrastructure is associated with economic development, but it can also be used for social control and to benefit the governing elite. We explore the connection between the construction of road networks, state-led repression, and illegal land allocations in the longest dictatorship in South America: Alfredo Stroessner’s military regime in Paraguay. Using novel panel data from the truth and reconciliation commission, we show that proximity to newly constructed roads facilitated state-led repression, illegal allocation of agricultural plots to dictatorship allies, and hindered sustainable economic development in the following decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Gonzalez, Felipe & Miquel-Florensa, Josepa & Prem, Mounu & Straub, Stéphane, 2022. "The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay," SocArXiv zetmq_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:zetmq_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/zetmq_v1
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