Work

Rural-urban connectivity and sustainable development: village roads, market access, and agglomeration in emerging Turkish provinces, 2011-2021

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Transport infrastructure fosters agglomeration, by reducing trade costs and enhancing market access. Village road networks drive intra-regional cohesion, by establishing rural-urban connectivity. In Turkey, the 2012 administrative reform effectively restricted village road provision to non-metropolitan provinces. This paper estimates the reduced-form income and growth effects of village roads under this policy through a market access channel. To account for temporal adjustments and endogeneity, this study employs a dynamic panel data model estimated via a system generalized method of moments framework. The results indicate a positive relationship between village roads and both the level and growth rate of gross domestic product per capita. However, the marginal income gains become statistically insignificant at an urbanisation threshold of approximately 42 %. These findings suggest that rural road investment decisions should consider regional urbanisation rates. Additionally, they provide economic justification for the policy shift through the 2012 administrative reform. Post-estimation diagnostics validate the model specifications and instrument validity.

Source: Revista iberoamericana de estudios de desarrollo = Iberoamerican journal of development studies

DOI: 10.26754/ojs_ried/ijds.12993

Author: Gökçen Yılmaz

Institution: Sinop University

Language: English

Topic: Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Decent work and economic growth, Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities, No poverty

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Malmö Högskola