Agriculture, Roads, and Economic Development in Uganda

Abstract

In many developing countries, agriculture is the dominant economic activity, accounting for large shares of employment and output. This chapter considers the case of Uganda, a country in East Africa in which the Douglas Gollin is professor of development economics at Oxford University. Richard Rogerson is professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Research for this chapter was funded by the NBER Program on African Successes. In Uganda, we were hosted and supported by the Makerere Institute of Social Research at Makerere University. We gratefully acknowledge the support of both institutions, while noting that the results and conclusions of our research do not reflect the official views of either NBER or MISR. We particularly appreciate the intellectual support and encouragement of Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David Weil, the joint organizers of the African Successes Program, and we also appreciate the helpful comments of conference participants in the program workshops in February 2009 and December 2009, including especially Diego Comin, our discussant. Elisa Pepe has provided exceptional support as coordinator of the program. We have benefited from comments on previous versions of this chapter made by seminar participants at Williams College,

Farther on Down the Road: Transport Costs, Trade and Urban Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…On the first point, Gollin and Rogerson (2010) find that in Uganda, internal transport costs for crops can easily exceed their farmgate that transportation was an obstacle, and in 11 countries, at least a quarter said that it was a major or very severe problem.…”

Impact of the business environment on output and productivity in Africa

“…A recent economic brief by the African Development Bank (Mafusire, 2010) argues that Africa has large deficit in infrastructure and its improvement can have large spillover effects for development and poverty reduction in the continent. Gollin and Rogerson (2010) suggests that decreasing transportation costs would be important for improving agricultural productivity in Uganda. Using cross-country data, Calderon (2009) finds that increasing infrastructure stock will have a large payoff for Africa.…”

Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities

“…Good 1988). The limitations of transport infrastructure in and around African cities can also increase the cost transportation and thus also increase the cost of urban food (Gollin and Rogerson 2010).…”