Road to division: Ethnic favoritism and road infrastructure in Ethiopia
This paper investigates the role of ethnic favoritism in the long run allocation of road infrastructure in Ethiopia. I construct a 5 km 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...
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| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Estado: | Versão publicada |
| Data de publicação: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repositório: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:2445/227815 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/227815 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Etiòpia Infraestructures (Transport) Inversions públiques Planificació del transport Ethiopia Transportation buildings Public investments Transportation planning |
| Resumo: | This paper investigates the role of ethnic favoritism in the long run allocation of road infrastructure in Ethiopia. I construct a 5 km 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. |
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