Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP12745
Authors: Carl Johan Dalgaard; Nicolai Kaarsen; Ola Olsson; Pablo Selaya
Abstract: How persistent is public goods provision in a comparative perspective? We explore the link between infrastructure investments made during antiquity and the presence of infrastructure today, as well as the link between early infrastructure and economic activity both in the past and in the present, across the entire area under dominion of the Roman Empire at the zenith of its geographical extension. We find a remarkable pattern of persistence showing that greater Roman road density goes along with (a) greater modern road density, (b) greater settlement formation in 500 CE, and (c) greater economic activity in 2010. Interestingly, however, the degree of persistence in road density and the link between early road density and contemporary economic development is weakened to the point of insignificance in areas where the use of wheeled vehicles was abandoned from the first millennium CE until the late modern period. Taken at face value, our results suggestthat infrastructure may be one important channel through which persistence in comparative development comes about.
Keywords: Roman Roads; Roman Empire; Public Goods; Infrastructure; Persistence
JEL Codes: H41; O40
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Greater Roman road density (R42) | Greater modern road density (R42) |
| Higher Roman road density (R42) | Greater settlement formation in 500 CE (N91) |
| Higher Roman road density (R42) | Greater economic activity in 2010 (F69) |
| Abandonment of wheeled transport (R41) | Diminished persistence of infrastructure and economic development in MENA region (O17) |
| Greater modern road density (R42) | Greater economic activity in 2010 (F69) |