Transportation Technology and Economic Change: The Impact of Colonial Railroads on City Growth in Africa

Remi Jedwab and Alexander Moradi

Working Papers from The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy

Abstract: What is the impact of modern transportation technology on economic change in poor countries? Rail construction in colonial Africa provides a natural experiment. Using new data on railroads and cities over one century within one country, Ghana, and Africa as a whole, we find large permanent effects of transportation technology on economic development. First, railroads had strong effects on agriculture and urbanization before independence. Second, using the fact that railroads collapsed post-independence, we show they had a persistent impact. Evidence suggests that railroad cities persisted because their emergence served as a mechanism to coordinate investments for each subsequent period. Historical shocks can thus trigger an equilibrium in which cities will emerge to facilitate the accumulation of factors, which promotes long-term development.

Keywords: Transportation Technology; Development; Path Dependence; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N97 O1 O18 O3 R1 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63 pages
Date: 2014-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-geo, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-tre
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Transportation Technology and Economic Change: The Impact of Colonial Railroads on City Growth in Africa (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2014-03

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