Connective Financing: Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries
Richard Bluhm, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin M. Strange, and Michael J. Tierney
Revise & resubmit at Journal of Urban Economics
Abstract
This paper studies the causal effect of transport infrastructure on the spatial concentration of economic activity. Leveraging a new global dataset of geo-located Chinese government-financed projects over the period from 2000 to 2014 together with measures of spatial inequality based on remotely-sensed data, we analyze the effects of transport projects on the spatial distribution of economic activity within and between regions in a large number of developing countries. We find that Chinese-financed transportation projects reduce spatial concentration within but not between regions. In line with land use theory, we document a range of results which are consistent with a relocation of activity from city centers to their immediate periphery. Transport projects decentralize activity particularly strongly in regions that are more urbanized, located closer to the coast, and less developed.
Interactive map
Database
Working paper (May/June 2020)
Working paper (September 2018)
Presentations at conferences and workshops
See also
[Thanks to Richard Bluhm for the photo!]
Richard Bluhm, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin M. Strange, and Michael J. Tierney
Revise & resubmit at Journal of Urban Economics
Abstract
This paper studies the causal effect of transport infrastructure on the spatial concentration of economic activity. Leveraging a new global dataset of geo-located Chinese government-financed projects over the period from 2000 to 2014 together with measures of spatial inequality based on remotely-sensed data, we analyze the effects of transport projects on the spatial distribution of economic activity within and between regions in a large number of developing countries. We find that Chinese-financed transportation projects reduce spatial concentration within but not between regions. In line with land use theory, we document a range of results which are consistent with a relocation of activity from city centers to their immediate periphery. Transport projects decentralize activity particularly strongly in regions that are more urbanized, located closer to the coast, and less developed.
Interactive map
Database
Working paper (May/June 2020)
Working paper (September 2018)
Presentations at conferences and workshops
- Departmental Talk of the Departmenr of Political Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (02/2020)
- ESM Research Internal Seminar, European Stability Mechanism, Luxembourg (11/2019)
- Research Seminar, University College Dublin, Ireland (11/2019)
- Annual Meeting of the International Political Economy Society, University of California, San Diego, USA (11/2019)
- Annual Economic Research Southern Africa Workshop on "Structural Constraints on the Economy, Growth and Political Economy", University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (09/2019)
- Biennial Conference of the Economic Society of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa (09/2019)
- China Economics Summer Institute, Peking University, Beijing, China (08/2019)
- Next Generation Economics (NGE) Seminar, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany (07/2019)
- Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, World Bank, Washington DC, USA (06/2019)
- Annual Conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik Research Committee Development Economics, DIW, Berlin, Germany (06/2019)
- European Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands (06/2019)
- GeoData in Economics Workshop, University of Hamburg, Germany (05/2019)
- Economics Research Seminar, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy (05/2019)
- Vilfredo Pareto Research Seminar, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (04/2019)
- TEDE Workshop "Topics in Development and Environmental Research", University of Birmingham, UK (02/2019)
- Annual Meeting of the European Public Choice Society, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (04/2019)
- GEM Seminar, University of Groningen, Netherland (01/2019)
- 1st HSU-IfW-Workshop in Development and Environmental Economics, HSU Hamburg, Germany (11/2018)
- Research Seminar, New York University, New York City, USA (09/2018)
See also
- AidData First Tranche (1)
- AidData First Tranche (2)
- Brookings Future Development
- Kiel Focus
- Washington Post Monkey Cage
[Thanks to Richard Bluhm for the photo!]
