Optimal road network and the gains from intranational trade

• Ano de defesa: 2020
• Autor(a) principal: Dias, Lucas Cardoso Correa
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Brasília experiment; Comércio intranacional; Economia espacial; Experimento Brasília; Intranational trade; Optimal transport networks; Redes ótimas de transporte; Spatial economics
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12138/tde-10052021-211932/

I study the efficiency of the Brazilian road network and its welfare implications combining rich spatial data on roads and a spatial general equilibrium model calibrated to 557 Brazilian regions. I find that Brazil would gain 0.31% of welfare if better organize its current road network to promote internal trade. At the subnational level, the least developed regions in the country\'s north and northeast would be the most benefited ones from a hypothetical optimal reallocation scenario. I then use the construction of a new federal capital city in the last century in a quasi-experimental setting and find that a large-scale infrastructure project does influence the current spatial misallocation patterns in the Brazilian road network.