Railway history lessons from Ghana
Posted: 19 Dec 2012, 17:33
RAILWAY HISTORY LESSONS FROM GHANA
On December 18, 2012 Railways Africa
In a recent working paper, Rémi Jedwab and Alexander Moradi explore the importance of transport infrastructure to a country’s development. The specific subject of their research was Ghana, where two railways were built in the early twentieth-century to extract minerals, as well as a means of moving soldiers in times of war. The railways brought with them reduced transport costs. This resulted in many subsistence farmers switching production to a more lucrative crop – cocoa. Detailed GIS census data used by Jedwab and Moradi confirmed the obvious – farms closest to the railway benefited the most. Within a decade most farmers in Ghana had become successful cocoa producers, “making Ghana an example of the positive impact of colonial policies.â€
Commenting on the research, Finweek points out that transport infrastructure is often the first item slashed from a government’s budget in times of economic crisis: “There are few consumer, labour or other electoral groups that feel strong enough about an unbuilt railway, and we only notice the decline of the infrastructure over an extended period of time (and when it’s already too late): small potholes don’t attract the anguish of protesters, but wait a few years and those same potholes might double or triple the time and cost of travelling. Any politician trying to cut government expenditure on education or health would face the (election) gallows, but cut transport infrastructure investment and few will notice. One of the reasons economic historians investigate the past is because they believe that history has valuable lessons that can inform the tough decisions policy makers face.â€
On December 18, 2012 Railways Africa
In a recent working paper, Rémi Jedwab and Alexander Moradi explore the importance of transport infrastructure to a country’s development. The specific subject of their research was Ghana, where two railways were built in the early twentieth-century to extract minerals, as well as a means of moving soldiers in times of war. The railways brought with them reduced transport costs. This resulted in many subsistence farmers switching production to a more lucrative crop – cocoa. Detailed GIS census data used by Jedwab and Moradi confirmed the obvious – farms closest to the railway benefited the most. Within a decade most farmers in Ghana had become successful cocoa producers, “making Ghana an example of the positive impact of colonial policies.â€
Commenting on the research, Finweek points out that transport infrastructure is often the first item slashed from a government’s budget in times of economic crisis: “There are few consumer, labour or other electoral groups that feel strong enough about an unbuilt railway, and we only notice the decline of the infrastructure over an extended period of time (and when it’s already too late): small potholes don’t attract the anguish of protesters, but wait a few years and those same potholes might double or triple the time and cost of travelling. Any politician trying to cut government expenditure on education or health would face the (election) gallows, but cut transport infrastructure investment and few will notice. One of the reasons economic historians investigate the past is because they believe that history has valuable lessons that can inform the tough decisions policy makers face.â€