The Dark Side of Infrastructure

Roads, Repression and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay

Bibliographic Data

ID9704585
AuthorsFelipe González (0000-0002-2174-0900, Queen Mary University of London, UK & Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), Josepa Miquel-Florensa (Toulouse School of Economics), Josepa Miquel‐Florensa (0000-0002-7100-7088, Toulouse School of Economics), Mounu Prem (0000-0002-2059-5991, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, Italy, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia & CEPR), Stéphane Straub (Toulouse School of Economics)
Year2024
Volume135
Issue666
Pages653-669
Publication date2024-12-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ej/ueae087
OpenAlexW4403024008
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited56

Transportation infrastructure is associated with economic development, but it can also be used for social control and to benefit the governing elite. We explore the connection between the construction of road networks, state-led repression and illegal land allocations in the longest dictatorship in South America: Alfredo Stroessner’s military regime in Paraguay. Using novel panel data from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we show that proximity to newly constructed roads facilitated state-led repression, illegal allocation of agricultural plots to dictatorship allies and hindered sustainable economic development in the following decades

Authoritarianism · Business · Democracy · Great Rift · Physics · Political science · Politics · Psychological repression · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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Open DOIOpen Access