Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The study explores the relationship between transportation infrastructure and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Transportation infrastructure is operationalized in terms of road density per capita, whereas economic development is defined in terms of gross national product per capita. The findings support the hypothesis of a positive association between the two variables. The association is stronger for roads in good conditions—defined as roads that are free of major defects and require no more than routine maintenance—than for roads in general. The presence of an association between transportation and economic development at both the theoretical and empirical levels suggests that authorities in sub-Saharan Africa will do well to pay far more attention to the transport sector of their economies than they have done in the past