Infrastructure Investments and Rural Economic Growth : Evidence from the National Paved Road Expansion Program in Korea
한국 과거 포장도로망의 확산이 농촌 경제성장에 미친 효과의 실증적 분석
- Subject Infrastructure , Historical Maps , Machine Learning , Market Access , Sectoral Specialization , Rural Development
- Publisher 서강대학교 일반대학원
- Advisor 양현주
- Issued Date 2023
- Awarded Date 2023. 8
- Thesis Degree 석사
- Major 일반대학원 경제학과
- URI Entity http://www.dcollection.net/handler/sogang/000000076386
- UCI I804:11029-000000076386
- Language 영어
- Rights 서강대학교 논문은 저작권 보호를 받습니다.
Abstract
How do transportation infrastructures transform economic activities in remote rural regions? This paper investigates this question by studying the large-scale paved road expansion in rural South Korea during the mid-to-late 20th century. I develop a novel machine-learning algorithm to digitize the entire inter-regional paved roads from historical maps and subsequently measure changes in rural area’s market access to cities. I find that the areas that witnessed greater advancements in market access now have lower levels of nightlight luminosity and fewer non-agricultural economic activities compared to other rural areas in the 1970s, whose market connections improved at a later stage. As a potential channel behind the relationship, I argue that the initial paved connection to cities provided a strong incentive for rural areas to specialize in agriculture through inter-regional trade. The results highlight the role of transportation infrastructures in facilitating inter-regional trade, in which regions face incentives to develop a comparative advantage in certain industries.
more