Resource information
This paper analyzes the effects of
all-weather rural roads on households' net output
prices, education and health in a poor, drought-prone region
of India. Of 30 villages originally surveyed in 2001-02,
when two had such roads, a further nine received them
between January 2007 and December 2009 under the program
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Cross-section comparisons
involving all villages and 'before and after'
comparisons in the nine yielded these findings: (i) net
output prices were 5 per cent or more higher; (ii)
substantially fewer days of schooling were lost due to bad
weather, largely because teachers had fewer absences; (iii)
the acutely sick received more timely treatment and were
more likely to be treated in a hospital than in the nearest
primary health clinic; and (iv) the respondents ranked the
resulting benefits in the domains of health and education at
least as highly as the 'commercial' ones.
