The Cost of Road Infrastructure in Low and Middle Income Countries

57 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Paul Collier

Paul Collier

University of Oxford - Blavatnik School of Government

Martina Kirchberger

Columbia University

Mans Soderbom

University of Gothenburg

Date Written: September 2, 2015

Abstract

The connections between transport infrastructure and economic development have been extensively analyzed in previous research, but little is known about the cost of infrastructure investments in poor countries. This paper examines drivers of unit costs of construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure in low and middle income countries and documents that: (i) there is a large dispersion in unit costs for comparable road work activities; (ii) after accounting for environmental drivers of costs, residual unit costs are significantly higher in conflict countries; (iii) there is evidence that costs are higher in countries with higher levels of corruption; (iv) these effects are robust to controlling for a country?s public investment capacity and business environment. Our findings have implications for governments aiming to increase connectivity in poor countries.

Keywords: Infrastructure Economics, Infrastructure Finance, Infrastructure Regulation, Infrastructure and Law

Suggested Citation

Collier, Paul and Kirchberger, Martina and Soderbom, Mans, The Cost of Road Infrastructure in Low and Middle Income Countries (September 2, 2015). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 7408, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2655253

Paul Collier

University of Oxford - Blavatnik School of Government ( email )

10 Merton St
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 4JJ
United Kingdom

Martina Kirchberger (Contact Author)

Columbia University ( email )

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

Mans Soderbom

University of Gothenburg ( email )

Viktoriagatan 30
Göteborg, 405 30
Sweden

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