Many research says rural roads are critical in turning the fortunes of the rural economy. So whether you are looking at agriculture or rural migration to urban, roads play a useful role.
A group of World Bank economists report in this paper that constructing a road alone does not help in rural areas. Transportation costs and economics matters as well. Without a subsidized motorised transport people still use either cycle or walk:
Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) opened its 4th office in South Africa. It will be called its Africa centre. Surprising that it opened its Africa centre so late as bulk of the studies come from Africa.
There was a conference marking the operning of the centre. Lessons from studies so far based in Africa were discussed. There is an interesting Conference Book covering studies in Africa. Then there are presentations from J-PAL researchers.
PPTs etc are pretty good and worth a read.
In this superb short note, Leslie McGranahan and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach assess the impact of taxation on soft drinks/ sugar-sweetened beverages (Pepsi, coke etc).
