Policy Brief Issue 8 | March 2020
Gender-Specific Impacts of Road Improvement: What Can Be Done to Ensure That Better Roads Expand Economic Opportunities for All?
KEY FINDINGS
• Roadimprovementsareassociatedwithincreasedagriculturaltradeinbothmale-andfemale-headedhouseholds.However,anincreaseinagriculturalproductionisonlyobservedinmale-headedhouseholds.
• Female-headedhouseholdsmaynotbeabletofullybenefitfromimprovedroadsbecausetheyhavelesshouseholdlaborandcapitalavailable.Thisisaresultofhavingonelessworkingageadult,andmakesitmoredifficultforthemtoincreaseagriculturalproduction.
• Coordinatingroadimprovementprogramswithcomplementaryinterventions,suchasaccesstocreditprograms,mayhelpvulnerablehouseholdsovercomeconstraintstomakingproductivechanges.
BACKGROUND
Thereisevidencethatbettertransportinfrastructurecanachievemultipledevelopmentoutcomes,fromimprovingemploymentopportunitiestoreducingpoverty.1However,analysisofgenderdifferencesintheseimpactshasreceivedlessattention.Westilldon’tfullyunderstandwhethermenandwomenbenefitequallyfromimprovementstotransportinfrastructure,andwhatbarriers,ifany,preventeithergenderfromreapingbenefitsonparwiththeother.WithglobalspendingonthisparticulardevelopmentinterventionestimatedatUS$1trillionannually,2itisimperativetomakesurethatbothgendersfullybenefit.
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC GENDER INNOVATION LAB
EAPGIL carries out
impact evaluations
and inferential
research to generate
evidence on what
works in closing
gender gaps in
assets, economic
opportunities, and
agency, and how
closing these gaps
can help achieve
other development
outcomes. Ultimately,
EAPGIL seeks to
increase the welfare
of women and men
in East Asia and the
Pacific by promoting
the uptake of
effective policies and
programs identified
based on evidence.
1 Forarecentreview,see:Asher,Sam,andPaulNovosad.2016.“Marketaccessandstructuraltransformation:EvidencefromruralroadsinIndia.”Manuscript:DepartmentofEconomics,UniversityofOxford.
2 TheestimatesrangefromUS$900billioninstudiesbytheInstituteforTransportationandDevelopmentPolicy(ITDP)andEMBARQ(Sakamotoetal.2010;Mahendraetal.2013),betweenUS$1.4andUS$2.1trillioninaWorldResourcesInstitute(WRI)study(Lefevreetal.2014),andUS$2.6trillioninastudybytheInternationalEnergyAgency(IEA)(Dulac2013).
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WHAT DID WE DO?
WeanalyzedtheimpactsofalargeWorldBankGroup-supportedroadimprovementprogram,theThirdRuralTransportProjectinVietnam(RTP3).ThedevelopmentobjectiveofRTP3wastoimproveyear-roundaccesstomarkets,economicopportunities,andsocialservicesforruralpopulations.Undertheproject,rehabilitationactivitieswerecarriedoutonapproximately3,100kmofruralroadsandmaintenanceonover19,000kmofruralroadsspreadacross33provincesinNorthernandCentralVietnambetween2008and2015.
Ouranalysisusedamixedmethodsapproach.First,wecarriedoutarigorousexpostimpactevaluationofRTP3combiningtheVietnamAccesstoResourcesHouseholdSurvey(VARHS)withadministrativedataontherolloutoftheproject.Then,wecarriedoutinterviewsandfocusgroupdiscussionswithbeneficiariesinasubsetofprojectsites3inordertobetterunderstandthemechanismsbehindtheobservedimpactsintheexpostimpactevaluation.
WHAT DID WE FIND?
Crop trade increases in all households, but production only increases in male-headed households
TheresultsoftheimpactevaluationsuggestthatRTP3roadimprovementstriggeredanincreaseincroptradeinallthehouseholdsinourstudysample(Figure1).Interviewswithprojectbeneficiariessuggestedthatthiswasdrivenbythe“access”channel:roadimprovementsfacilitatedaccesstofields,transportofcropstomarkets,andaccesstoandfortraders.Forexample,onerespondentsaid:
“When the road had not yet been upgraded, I drove a bike to carry 20 kg rice to a market. I couldn’t carry much more. It took 20 minutes… It might take a half of day to sell… Now I phone customers to come to buy rice. I don’t need to carry the product to the market.”
—Woman,NghệAnProvince
Figure1highlightstwomoreimportantfactsaboutthenatureofthischange,however.First,thoughcroptradeincreasedacrossthestudysample,themagnitudeoftheincreasewassubstantiallyhigheramongmale-headedhouseholds.Andsecond,theproductionofcropsincreasedonlyamongmale-headedhouseholds.
Why do impacts differ for male- and female- headed households?
Wefoundtwoexplanationsforthedifferencebetweenmale-andfemale-headedhouseholds.First,ourdatashowthatfemale-headedhouseholdsarehouseholdsthatareconstrainedintermsofhouseholdlabor.Theyhaveonelessworkingageadultcomparedtomale-headedhouseholds(Figure2).Itappearsthatmenareconsideredtheheadofhouseholdbydefaultwhenbothspousesarepresent.Female-headedhouseholdsarehouseholdsheadedbywidowsorsinglewomen.Thisdeficitofaworkingageadultmakesitdifficulttoincreasecropproductiondirectlysincehouseholdlaborisakeyinputintoagriculturalproduction.
Second,ourqualitativeinterviewsrevealedthathouseholdsincreasedproductionintwoways:theyeitherincreasedtheiruseofmachineryasaninputorstartedcultivatingcropssuchasorangeoracaciathatbroughtgreaterrevenue.
3 Weusedadifference-in-differenceframeworkforthenon-experimentalimpactevaluation.Formoredetailsabouteconometricspecificationaswellasqualitativedatacollection,pleaserefertothefullpaper,availableatworldbank.org/eapgil.
Male headed households Female headed households
FIGURE 1: CHANGE IN CROP TRADE AND PRODUCTION, AS % OF
PRE-INTERVENTION AVERAGE
100%
80%
40%
0%
-20%
60%
20%
Crop OutputCrop Trade
Inthewordsoftherespondents:
“In the old days, we used buffaloes or oxen to plough. Getting up at 5 a.m., leading the buffaloes and ploughing tools to the rice fields, we would finish ploughing 1 sáo4 at 8 a.m. Nowadays [with machines], 3 sáos takes 1.5 hours.”
—Woman,PhucThanh,NghệAnProvince
“I started planting acacia in 2012. First, I planted on 2 ha, and planted rubber on the remaining 1 ha. In 2016, I planted acacia on all 3 ha since rubber was not profitable.”
—Man,AnBac,QuảngNamProvince
Bothtypesofchangeshavefinancialimplications.Hiringmachineryrequiresadditionalpaymentsinthepre-harvestperiod.Cultivatingcropssuchasorangeandacaciarequiresliquidityoveralongerperiodsincetheharvestcyclesofthesetreesaremuchlongerthantheharvestcyclesforcropslikericeandmaize.Poorhouseholdsandhouseholdsmissingincomefroma
householdmember,suchasfemale-headedhouseholds,arelessabletomaketheseinvestments.
“Rich people have capital, so they can wait. We [are a household with] an average living standard… We cannot make long-term and large-scale investments like the rich.”
—Woman,LuongSon,LàoCaiProvince
Wefindsuggestiveevidencethatfemale-headedhouseholdsmaybesellingassetssuchaslandasawayoffinancingproductiveinvestments.OurquantitativedatashowthatinthesehouseholdsRTP3improvementsareassociatedwithanincreaseinincomefromsellingassetsandadecreaseinincomefromagriculture(Figure3).Thedecreaseinagriculturalincomemaybeduetoatransitiontomoreprofitablecropswithlongergrowthcycles.Notably,formale-headedhouseholdsweobservetheoppositetrend.RTP3roadimprovementsareassociatedwithanincreaseinincomefromagriculturalactivitiesinmale-headedhouseholdsanddecreaseinincomefromthesaleofassets.
4 Onesaoisabout500sqm.
Male headed households Female headed households
Male headed households Female headed households
FIGURE 2: NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS IN MALE- AND FEMALE-
HEADED HOUSEHOLDS
FIGURE 3: CHANGE IN INCOME FROM AGRICULTURE AND SALES OF ASSETS, AS % OF
PRE-INTERVENTION AVERAGE TOTAL INCOME
6 8.0%
53.0%
3
-2.0%
1
0 -12.0%
4
2
-7.0%
Working Age Adults Income from Sales of Assets
All Household Members Income from Agriculture
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
WegratefullyacknowledgefundingfromtheUmbrellaFacilityforGenderEquality(UFGE)tocarryoutthiswork.WethankourcollaboratorsontheprojectfromtheWorldBank’sprojecttaskteam—NghiQuyNguyen,MaryClark,andKienNguyen.HoangLinhVuprovidedimportantsupportwiththedata.Theinsightsfromqualitativeworkcomefromworkdonebyateamofqualitativeresearchers—NguyenCongThao,NguyenThiMinhPhuong,KienNguyen,BuiThiHuongTram,BuiThiPhuong,andNgoVanDuong.Wearethankfultothem.WealsobenefitedfromexcellentcommentsfromKeikoInoue,AliceDuhaut,JulieBabinard,HardwickTchale,EliWeiss,JasperCook,ImogeneJensen,AndrewMason,AlmudWeitz,AadityaMattoo,andcolleaguesfromtheVietnamCountryOfficeLeadershipteam.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Elizaveta Perova, EAP GIL [email protected]
Phuong Thi Minh Tran, EAP Transport [email protected]
www.worldbank.org/eapgil
WHAT ARE THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS?
TheresultsindicatethatalthoughroadimprovementsunderRTP3createeconomicopportunitiesinagriculture,female-headedhouseholdsfacedifficultiesintakingadvantageoftheseopportunitiesbecauseoflowaccesstohouseholdlaborandcapital.
Thissuggeststheneedforadditionalinterventionstoallowfemale-headedhouseholdsandothervulnerablehouseholdsfacingsimilarcreditorhouseholdlaborconstraintstofullyreapthepotentialbenefitsofbetterroads.Programsfacilitatingaccesstocreditorimprovingfinancialliteracywouldbeexamplesofsuchinterventions.Evenifsuchprogramsarenotexplicitlytargetedatfemale-headedorothervulnerablehouseholds,weexpecttheirimpactstobegreaterforthesehouseholdsprovidedthattheprogramsareaccessibletothem.
Ourresultsalsopointtothevalueofcomplementarityingovernmentinvestments.Forexample,coordinatingtheimplementationofaruralroadsprogramwithanagriculturalcreditprogramcouldleadtogreaterimpactsthanthesumoftheimpactsofeithertheroadimprovementonitsownorthecreditprogramonitsown,atleastformorevulnerablehouseholds.
TheEastAsiaandPacificGenderInnovationLab(EAPGIL)issupportedbyUFGEinpartnershipwiththeAustralianDepartmentofForeignAffairsandTrade.UFGEhasreceivedgenerouscontributionsfromAustralia,Canada,Denmark,Finland,Germany,Iceland,theNetherlands,Norway,Spain,Sweden,Switzerland,theUnitedKingdom,andtheUnitedStates.
