Research

This paper examines the causal impact of road access on child health in Sub-Saharan Africa between 1980 and 2012 by combining geolocated data on child anthropometric outcomes with spatial data on road networks. To address endogeneity, we employ an instrumental variable approach based on the inconsequential units framework, constructing hypothetical road networks that connect historical cities and active mines. Our results show that closer proximity to paved roads significantly improves child health. The main mechanisms operate through improved healthcare access and utilization, higher household wealth, early signs of structural transformation, and cropland expansion. We find no evidence that these gains are offset by adverse environmental or epidemiological effects of improved road access. Overall, the findings underscore the role of road infrastructure in fostering development across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Conflicts and civil wars have major economic consequences, both domestically and across borders. This paper examines how conflict-induced trade shocks affect local development, exploiting the 2002 civil war in Côte d’Ivoire as a quasi-natural experiment. The conflict temporarily disrupted access to the Port of Abidjan, prompting landlocked neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso to reroute trade through other West African coastal countries. We analyze whether competing coastal countries benefited from this redirected trade, defining treatment as areas with greater access to international trade corridors. Our findings indicate persistent local development in more exposed areas following the shock, reflected in increases in settlement area, population density, and nighttime lights, alongside declining cropland. These effects continue to strengthen well beyond the temporary disruption, suggesting that the trade rerouting acted as a catalyst for cumulative local development. Individual-level evidence from the Demographic and Health Surveys provides suggestive support for this interpretation through increased female employment and greater human capital accumulation in locations with greater access to the affected corridors.