On the Dispensability of New Transportation Technologies: Evidence from Colonial Railroads in Nigeria

Dozie Okoye, Roland Pongou () and Tite Yokossi ()
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Roland Pongou: Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
Tite Yokossi: Department of Economics, MIT

No 1620E, Working Papers from University of Ottawa, Department of Economics

Abstract: We examine Fogel’s influential hypothesis that new transportation technologies may be dispensable if pre-existing technologies are viable or can simply be improved. Exploiting the construction of colonial railroads in Nigeria, we find that the railway has large long-lasting impacts on individual and local development in the North, but virtually no impact in the South neither in the short run nor in the long run. This heterogeneous impact of the railway can be accounted for by the level of pre-railway access to ports of export. Consistent with Fogel’s argument, the railway did not transform areas that had viable transportation alternatives for exporting purposes. Using information on changes in shipping costs and quantities, we highlight the importance of opportunity costs to the adoption and impact of new transportation investments.

Keywords: Fogel’s Hypothesis; Colonial Investments; Railway; Africa; Development; Nigeria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 N30 N37 N47 O15 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-tre
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: On the Dispensability of New Transportation Technologies: Evidence from Colonial Railroads in Nigeria (2016)
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