This study investigates the impact of international transport infrastructure on household living standards. We propose that a change in the share of food expenditure to total expenditure is a valid indicator of the improvement in living standards by infrastructure in developing countries. We apply this notion to the case of an international bridge between Laos and Thailand and explore its effects on Laos households. Our estimation results by difference-in-differences analysis and propensity score matching method show that establishing an international bridge decreases the share of food expenditure, suggesting that the living standards of the households close to the bridge were improved. Our main results are robust to alternative treatment measurements. Finally, we explored the heterogeneity of the treatment effects using a machine learning approach. We found that although the initial level of the total expenditure affected households’ ability to benefit from the bridge, all households, regardless of their characteristics, could benefit if they were in the districts close to the bridge.
権利
Copyrights 2021 by author(s)
雑誌名
IDE Discussion Paper
雑誌名(英)
IDE Discussion Paper
巻
812
発行年
2021-03
出版者
Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO)
著者版フラグ
publisher
JEL分類
JEL:F10 - General
JEL:H54 - Infrastructures • Other Public Investment and Capi …
JEL:G51 - Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
Impacts of international transport infrastructure: evidence from Laos households
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