Choosing rural road investments to help reduce poverty

Dominique van de Walle

No 2458, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: The author examines how rural road investment projects should be selected and appraised when the objective is poverty reduction. After critically reviewing past and current practices, the author develops an operational approach grounded in a public economics framework in which concerns of equity and efficiency are inseparable, information is incomplete in important ways, and resources are limited. She addresses a key problem: that an important share of the benefits to the poor from rural roads cannot be measured in monetary terms. The selction formula she proposes aims to identify places where poverty and economic potential are high and access is low. She illustrates the method using data for and project experience in Vietnam. Among the advantages of proceeding as outlined in her proposal: This approach holds the hope of building capacity and is participatory; it extracts local information that may not be readily available to the central government; and it appears to be feasible because it relies on local authorities participating in the appraisal of subprojects.

Keywords: Economic Theory&Research; Decentralization; Public Health Promotion; Environmental Economics&Policies; Roads&Highways; Health Economics&Finance; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Roads&Highways; Health Monitoring&Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-10-31
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Journal Article: Choosing Rural Road Investments to Help Reduce Poverty (2002)
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