Micro- and Macro-Level Investigations of the Impacts of Transportation Infrastructure on Agricultural Gross Income in South Korea

Eunji Choi, Kyungjae Lee () and Seongwoo Lee ()
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Eunji Choi: Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, Sejong 30147, Republic of Korea
Kyungjae Lee: Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Seongwoo Lee: Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: This study aims to investigate a fundamental yet largely overlooked question: “Does investing in transportation infrastructure positively impact farms’ agricultural gross income?” It is examined based on the role of transportation infrastructure in ensuring equal access to market opportunities in the context of the widening regional economic disparity in Korea. The main novelty of this study lies in its attempt to introduce an accessibility measure for evaluating the benefits of transportation infrastructure in a rural setting, which has been limitedly applied in urban-centered studies. To accomplish this task, multilevel and spatial econometric models were employed to evaluate the ex-post impact of transportation accessibility on agricultural gross income from the perspectives of farmers, primarily, and rural autonomies, subsequently. This study found that the continuation of the current direction of transportation policy—without substantial consideration for agriculture as an industry and rural areas as living spaces—can intensify the economic alienation of agriculture and rural areas. This study concludes that opportunities for market access provided by the immense public investments in transportation infrastructure should be fairly distributed to farmers and rural autonomies to promote balanced regional development in Korea.

Keywords: transportation infrastructure; agricultural gross income; accessibility; multilevel model; spatial econometrics model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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