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The Brasília Experiment: Road Access and the Spatial Pattern of Long-term Local Development in Brazil

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  • Bird, Julia
  • Straub, Stéphane

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the rapid expansion of the Brazilian road network, which occurred from the 1960s to the 2000s, on the growth and spatial allocation of population and economic activity across the country's municipalities. It addresses the problem of endogeneity in infrastructure location by using an original empirical strategy, based on the "historical natural experiment" constituted by the creation of the new federal capital city Brasília in 1960. The results reveal a dual pattern, with improved transport connections increasing concentration of economic activity and population around the main centers in the South of the country, while spurring the emergence of secondary economic centers in the less developed North, in line with predictions in terms of agglomeration economies. Over the period, roads are shown to account for half of pcGDP growth and to spur a signifficant decrease in spatial inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Bird, Julia & Straub, Stéphane, 2014. "The Brasília Experiment: Road Access and the Spatial Pattern of Long-term Local Development in Brazil," TSE Working Papers 14-495, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:28242
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrade, Eduardo & Laurini, Marcio & Madalozzo, Regina & Valls Pereira, Pedro L., 2004. "Convergence clubs among Brazilian municipalities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 179-184, May.
    2. Lena Edlund, 2000. "On the Geography of Demography: Why Women Live in Cities," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1147, Econometric Society.
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    Cited by:

    1. DJEMAI, Elodie, 2018. "Roads and the spread of HIV in Africa," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 118-141.
    2. Bird, Julia & Straub, Stéphane, 2020. "The Brasília experiment: The heterogeneous impact of road access on spatial development in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Carballo, Jerónimo & Cusolito, Ana, 2017. "Roads, exports and employment: Evidence from a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 21-39.
    4. Dreher, Axel & Bluhm, Richard & Fuchs, Andreas & Parks, Bradley & Strange, Austin & Tierney, Michael, 2020. "Connective Financing - Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 14818, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Marcel Fafchamps & Michael Koelle & Forhad Shilpi, 2017. "Gold mining and proto-urbanization: recent evidence from Ghana," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 975-1008.
    6. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Loren Brandt & J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner & Qinghua Zhang, 2016. "Highways, Market Access and Urban Growth in China," SERC Discussion Papers 0200, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Remi Jedwab & Adam Storeygard, 2019. "Economic and Political Factors in Infrastructure Investment: Evidence from Railroads and Roads in Africa 1960–2015," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 156-208, May.
    8. Shilpa Aggarwal & Brian Giera & Dahyeon Jeong & Jonathan Robinson & Alan Spearot, 2024. "Market Access, Trade Costs, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Northern Tanzania," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1511-1528, November.
    9. Amrit Amirapu & M Niaz Asadullah & Zaki Wahhaj, 2018. "Marriage, Work and Migration: The Role of Infrastructure Development and Gender Norms," Studies in Economics 1810, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    10. Arnarson, Björn Thor, 2015. "Bridging Trade Barriers: Evaluating Models of Multi-Product Exporters," Working Papers 2015:6, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 14 Oct 2016.
    11. Amirapu, Amrit & Asadullah, M. Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2022. "Social barriers to female migration: Theory and evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Arthur Grimes & Valente J Matlaba & Jacques Poot, 2017. "Spatial impacts of the creation of Brasília: A natural experiment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 784-800, April.
    13. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Kaarsen, Nicolai & Olsson, Ola & Selaya, Pablo, 2022. "Roman roads to prosperity: Persistence and non-persistence of public infrastructure," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 896-916.
    14. Yu, Nannan & de Roo, Gert & de Jong, Martin & Storm, Servaas, 2016. "Does the expansion of a motorway network lead to economic agglomeration? Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 218-227.
    15. Elodie Djemai, 2017. "Roads and the Spread of AIDS in Africa," Working Papers DT/2017/16, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transport costs; Infrastructure; Roads; Brazil;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • N76 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • N96 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General

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