1. Roads to Poverty Reduction? Exploring Rural Roads' Impact on Mobility in Africa and Asia.
- Author
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Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, Bradbury, Annabel, and Bradbury, Trevor
- Subjects
POVERTY rate ,SOCIAL services ,ECONOMIC development ,INFRASTRUCTURE (Economics) ,INVESTMENTS ,PUBLIC welfare ,POVERTY - Abstract
Within current poverty reduction programmes, focus on the social-welfare millennium development goals is widening to embrace a concern with infrastructural investment, particularly for remote areas. The previously popular assumption that rural disadvantage can be remedied by road-building is resurfacing. Using survey data from Ethiopia, Zambia and Vietnam, this article explores how effective such investment is in addressing mobility and social-service accessibility in rural areas. The findings indicate that, in extremely remote areas, road improvements may catalyse the expansion of social-service provision, as evidenced in Ethiopia. However, given the poor's relative lack of motor vehicles and ability to pay for public transport, they are, by no means, a sufficient condition for enhancing the mobility of the rural poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
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