 Road to division: Ethnic favoritism and road infrastructure in EthiopiaElena Perra Journal of Comparative Economics, 2026, vol. 54, issue 2, 350-366 Abstract: This paper investigates the role of ethnic favoritism in the long run allocation of road infrastructure in Ethiopia. I construct a 5 km2 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. Keywords: Construction; Ethiopia; Ethnicity; Ethnic favoritism; Infrastructure; Local economic development; Night lights; Public goods; Roads; Transport (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:54:y:2026:i:2:p:350-366 DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2025.12.002 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Comparative Economics is currently edited by D. Berkowitz and G. Roland More articles in Journal of Comparative Economics from Elsevier |
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