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

Felipe González, Josepa Miquel-Florensa, Mounu Prem and Stéphane Straub
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Josepa Miquel-Florensa: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Stéphane Straub: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, The World Bank - The World Bank

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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.

Date: 2025-02
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Published in The Economic Journal, 2025, 135 (666), pp.653-669. ⟨10.1093/ej/ueae087⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay (2025)
Working Paper: The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay (2024)
Working Paper: The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay (2023)
Working Paper: The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay (2022)
Working Paper: The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04875958

DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueae087

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