Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/289868 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Publisher: 
ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg
Abstract: 
This paper studies how better market access through infrastructure improvements leads to the adoption of new agricultural technologies. In particular, I study the case of Brazil, and how the construction of the federal highway network from 1950 to 2000 affected the modernization of the agricultural sector. To address endogeneity concerns, I use the creation of Brasilia, and the project to connect it to the state capitals, as a natural experiment. I build a predicted network of highways by computing the cheapest way to connect the state capitals with Brasilia and use it to instrument market access. I find that municipalities where market access increased adopted new agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, improving agricultural productivity as a result. Market access also increased the machinery and equipment used for production, but only when Brazil deregulated its agricultural markets and opened to international trade, after 1990.
Subjects: 
agricultural productivity
infrastructure
market access
mechanization
JEL: 
O13
O18
F14
Document Type: 
Preprint

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