The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay
Felipe Gonzalez,
Josepa Miquel-Florensa,
Mounu Prem and
Stephane Straub
No 19124, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
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.
Keywords: Paraguay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H54 N46 N76 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP19124 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
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 (2025)
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) 
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19124
Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP19124
Access Statistics for this paper
More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().