Abstract

The Tashguzar–Baysun–Kumkurgan (TBK) railway connection, completed in 2007 in southern Uzbekistan, provided a domestic through line to link rail stretches formerly connected only via neighboring Turkmenistan. We hypothesize that a better integrated domestic rail system would yield economic spillovers beyond the regions actually traversed by the new connector to generate higher growth for neighboring regions and even for the far terminal reaches of the system. We test for this using a difference in difference approach that assesses the impact of the rail connector on economic performance for each of three regional groupings relative to a control group of unaffected regions. We further distinguish effects for the short term (2008), medium term (2009–10), and long term (2011–12). We find statistically significant increases in GDP growth for all three regional groupings at medium or long term horizons with magnitudes of increase up to 2.6 percentage points per year.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.