2026-03-08T03:04:09Z https://ir.ide.go.jp/oai

oai:ir.ide.go.jp:02001152 2024-12-05T06:36:00Z 3552:4093:1704342972436

From Walking to Driving: Economic Impact of Mountain Roads TANAKA,Kiyoyasu JEL:D22 - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis JEL:O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors • Shadow Economy • Institutional Arrangements JEL:O18 - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis • Housing • Infrastructure JEL:R42 - Government and Private Investment Analysis • Road Maintenance • Transportation Planning Road transport firm informal sector gender Nepal Roads Traffic application/pdf IDP000949_001 This paper evaluates the impact of Sindhuli Road on new business establishments in Nepal—new paved roads built on previously mountain trails with elevations between 200 and 1500 meters and traversing 160 kilometers. I use a unique Nepalese dataset that surveys all nonfarm establishments in the formal and informal sectors. To reduce selection bias, I adopt the propensity-score weighted regression method combined with the covariate-balancing propensity-score estimator. The results show that opening the road increased the number of new firms in local treatment wards by 108%, employment by 132%, and sales by 232%. The impacts were heterogeneous across construction sections, industries, and genders. To infer transportation cost savings in a modal shift from porter to vehicle, I surveyed porter transport prices along mountain trekking routes and show a striking difference in transport prices between porter and vehicle. technical report Institute of Developing Economies　(IDE-JETRO) 2024-12 VoR application/pdf IDE Discussion Paper 949 https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/2001152/files/IDP000949_001.pdf https://doi.org/10.20561/0002001152 http://hdl.handle.net/2344/0002001152 https://ir.ide.go.jp/records/2001152 eng Nepal Copyrights 2024 by author(s)