Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/219162 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8344
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
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 analyse 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. .
Subjects: 
transport costs
infrastructure
development finance
foreign aid
spatial concentration China
JEL: 
F15
F35
R11
R12
P33
O18
O19
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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