Improved Market Access and Indigenous Land Loss: Evidence from the Nineteenth-Century US Railroad Expansion

Jeff Chan, Azim Essaji and Rob Gillezeau

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2026, vol. 116, 652-657

Abstract: We study the effects of colonial market access on the loss of lands for Indigenous nations, using the rapid expansion of the US railroad network in the nineteenth century as a quasi-natural experiment. We find that increased market access to Indigenous homelands led to a hastening of land dispossession. We find that both reductions in transport costs that improved connectivity to large population centers and the westward advancement of mass settlement were important channels. Taken together, our paper provides evidence that, unlike for settlers' outcomes, railroad-induced market access improvements may not have been beneficial for Indigenous peoples.

JEL-codes: J15 L92 N31 N41 N71 N91 Q24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20261127

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