Home / Repository / JA / PP_ETH_2025_437
ja

Reproducibility package for The Impact Of Ethiopia’s Road Investment Program On Economic Development And Land Use: Evidence From Satellite Data

2025
Reference ID
PP_ETH_2025_437
Author(s)
Alice Duhaut, Simon Alder, Kevin Croke, Robert Marty, Ariana Vaisey
Collections
Journal articles
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Dec 11, 2025
Last modified
Dec 11, 2025
  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata

    • Overview

    Abstract

    This paper examines the impact of Ethiopia's Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) from 1997--2016 on land use and economic activity, using spatial variation in road upgrades and satellite imagery. We use three approaches to triangulate the effect of the RSDP: difference-in-differences examining economic activity near upgraded roads, long-difference instrumental variables comparing areas connected to upgraded versus non-upgraded roads, and market access analysis. For RSDP phases I-III, upgrades increase local economic activity, with effects varying by baseline activity. Areas with medium-to-high baseline activity showed positive effects, while areas with the lowest activity showed minimal effects. Results are weaker for RSDP IV.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    File name
    PP_ETH_2025_437
    Zip package
    PP_ETH_2025_437.zip
    Title
    Reproducibility package for The Impact Of Ethiopia’s Road Investment Program On Economic Development And Land Use: Evidence From Satellite Data
    Date
    2025-10
    Dependencies
    R dependencies are listed in the file renv.lock.
    Instructions
    See README in reproducibility package.
    Notes
    Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    R
    Version
    4.5.1

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
    • OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, version 23H2
    • Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)
    • Memory available: 64 GB
    Technology requirements

    Runtime: 48 hours.
    Reproduction instructions

    1. Access the data: Some data used in the reproducibility package are accessible but not redistributable with the package. These data need to be obtained for the code to run. See the Datasets section for details.
    2. Download and place the data: Once all data are obtained, copy them to the corresponding folder as described in the Datasets section.
    3. Reproduce the R environment or install all R packages: The R environment for the code can be reproduced using the "renv.lock" file included in the reproducibility package. Alternatively, users could install all dependencies for the code; these are listed in the "renv.lock" file.
    4. Run the code: Open the RStudio project file "Ethiopia Corridors.Rproj" and execute "_main.R".

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    GADM maps and data
    Note
    Source: GADM. Data files: "GADM/RawData/gadm36_ETH_0_sp.rds", "GADM/RawData/gadm36_ETH_1_sp.rds", "GADM/RawData/gadm36_ETH_2_sp.rds", "GADM/RawData/gadm36_ETH_3_sp.rds". Original data for each administrative level (0-3) of Ethiopia was downloaded from the data URL as a GeoJSON, imported into R using the package "sf", and saved into RDS files. Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution.
    License
    GADM license
    License URL
    https://gadm.org/license.html
    Data URL
    https://gadm.org/data.html
    Citation
    GADM. n.d. "GADM maps and data [dataset]". Accessed in September 2025. https://gadm.org/data.html
    Name
    Kebeles (Level 4) - Ethiopia
    Note
    Source: Ethiopia Geoportal. Data file: "Kebeles/RawData/0cfabb08-2469-4e3a-8770-6aa5425bc49d2020328-1-lp203n.6k02l.shp". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://ethiopia.africageoportal.com/datasets/africageoportal::kebeles-level-4/about
    Citation
    Ethiopia Geoportal. 2020. "Kebeles (Level 4) - Ethiopia [dataset]". Accessed in September 2025. https://ethiopia.africageoportal.com/datasets/africageoportal::kebeles-level-4/about
    Name
    Woredas (Level 3) - Ethiopia
    Note
    Source: Ethiopia Geoportal. Data file: "Woredas/RawData/Ethioworeda.shp". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://ethiopia.africageoportal.com/datasets/africageoportal::ethiopia-adminboundaries/about?layer=1
    Citation
    Ethiopia Geoportal. 2020. "Woredas (Level 3) - Ethiopia [dataset]". Accessed in September 2025. https://ethiopia.africageoportal.com/datasets/africageoportal::ethiopia-adminboundaries/about?layer=1
    Name
    World Bank Official Boundaries
    Note
    Source: World Bank. Data file: "World Bank Boundaries/RawData/World Bank Official Boundaries - Admin 0.gpkg" Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/int/public-licenses?fragment=cc
    Data URL
    https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/int/search/dataset/0038272/World-Bank-Official-Boundaries
    Citation
    World Bank. 2025. "World Bank Official Boundaries [dataset]" Version 5. Accessed in September 2025. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038272/World-Bank-Official-Boundaries
    Name
    Ethiopia Electricity Transmission Network
    Note
    Source: World Bank. Data file: "Electricity Network/RawData/ Ethiopia Electricity Transmission Network.shp". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/int/public-licenses?fragment=cc
    Data URL
    https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0039311
    Citation
    World Bank. 2017. "Ethiopia Electricity Transmission Network [dataset]" Accessed in September 2025. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0039311
    Name
    Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Data Version 4
    Note
    Source: NASA - CGIAR. Data was accessed on the Earth Engine Data Catalog, boundaries were set for Ethiopia, and the result was exported using the Earth Engine script interface. Data file: "Elevation/RawData/eth_elevation_1000m.tif". Accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution.
    License URL
    https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/CGIAR_SRTM90_V4#terms-of-use
    Data URL
    https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/CGIAR_SRTM90_V4
    Citation
    Jarvis, A., H.I. Reuter, A. Nelson, E. Guevara. 2008. "Hole-filled SRTM for the globe Version 4", available from the CGIAR-CSI SRTM 90m. Database: https://srtm.csi.cgiar.org. Accessed on September 2025 through the Earth Engine Data Catalog at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/CGIAR_SRTM90_V4
    Name
    Land cover classification gridded maps from 1992 to present derived from satellite observations
    Note
    Source: European Space Agency (ESA) - Climate Change Initiative (CCI). Version 2.0.7 of the dataset was used for data for 1992-2015 and version 2.1.1 was used for 2016-2018. Data files: "Globcover/RawData/1992_2015_data/ESACCI-LC-L4-LCCS-Map-300m-P1Y-1992_2015-v2.0.7.tif", "Globcover/RawData/2016_2018_data/ C3S-LC-L4-LCCS-Map-300m-P1Y-2016-v2.1.1.tif", "Globcover/RawData/2016_2018_data/ C3S-LC-L4-LCCS-Map-300m-P1Y-2016-v2.1.1.tif", "Globcover/RawData/2016_2018_data/ C3S-LC-L4-LCCS-Map-300m-P1Y-2016-v2.1.1.tif". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/download.php
    Citation
    European Space Agency - Climate Change Initiative. 2019. "Land cover classification gridded maps from 1992 to present derived from satellite observations [dataset]". https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.006f2c9a
    Name
    Gridded Population of the World, v.4
    Note
    Source: Center for International Earth Science Information Network - Columbia University. Data file: "Gridded Population of the World/RawData/gpw-v4-population-density_2000.tif". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
    License URL
    https://pacific-data.sprep.org/resource/public-data-license-agreement-0
    Data URL
    https://pacific-data.sprep.org/dataset/gridded-population-world-v4
    Citation
    Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University. 2018. "Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11 [dataset]". Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/H49C6VHW. Accessed in September 2025.
    Name
    DMSP OLS: Nighttime Lights Time Series Version 4, Defense Meteorological Program Operational Linescan System
    Note
    Source: Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines. Data files: "DMSP_OLS/RawData/ eth_dmspols_allyears.tif", "DMSP_OLS/RawData/ eth_cf_dmspols_allyears.tif". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NOAA_DMSP-OLS_NIGHTTIME_LIGHTS#terms-of-use
    Data URL
    https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NOAA_DMSP-OLS_NIGHTTIME_LIGHTS
    Citation
    Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines. n.d. "DMSP OLS: Nighttime Lights Time Series Version 4, Defense Meteorological Program Operational Linescan System [dataset]". Accessed on September 2025 through the Earth Engine Data Catalog. https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NOAA_DMSP-OLS_NIGHTTIME_LIGHTS
    Name
    NASA's Black Marble
    Note
    Source: NASA. Yearly data for 2012-2022 for the product VNP46A4 was subset for Ethiopia and saved in one file pear year. Data files: "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2012.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2013.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2014.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2015.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2016.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2017.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2018.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2019.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2020.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2021.tif", "VIIRS BlackMarble/RawData/VNP46A4_t2022.tif". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://blackmarble.gsfc.nasa.gov/
    Citation
    NASA. n.d. "NASA's Black Marble". Accessed in September 2025. https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/products/VNP46A4/
    Name
    Harmonization of DMSP and VIIRS nighttime light data from 1992-2021 at the global scale
    Note
    Source: Xuecao Li, Yuyu Zhou, Min Zhao, Xia Zhao. All data files are in the folder "VIIRS_DMSPOLS_Intercalibrated/RawData/". Data was accessed in September 2025.
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Harmonization_of_DMSP_and_VIIRS_nighttime_light_data_from_1992-2018_at_the_global_scale/9828827/7
    Citation
    Xuecao Li, Yuyu Zhou, Min Zhao, Xia Zhao. 2022. "Harmonization of DMSP and VIIRS nighttime light data from 1992-2021 at the global scale". Version 7. Accessed in September 2025. https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Harmonization_of_DMSP_and_VIIRS_nighttime_light_data_from_1992-2018_at_the_global_scale/9828827/7
    Name
    Ethiopia Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) Roads
    Note
    Source: data was generated by the authors in 2017. Data file: "Data/RSDP Roads/RawData/RoadNetworkPanelData_1996_2016.geojson".
    Access policy
    Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Development Data Hub and it is included in the reproducibility package.
    Citation
    Duhaut et al. 2025. "Ethiopia Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) Roads [dataset]". Data is available in the Reproducibility Package for Ethiopia’s Road Investment Program on Economic Development and Land Use: Evidence from Satellite Data and forthcoming in the World Bank Development Data Hub.
    Data statement

    All data sources are publicly available but not all are included in the reproducibility package.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Journal Article
    Title
    The Impact Of Ethiopia’s Road Investment Program On Economic Development And Land Use: Evidence From Satellite Data
    Description
    Journal Articles
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Alice Duhaut World Bank aduhaut@worldbank.org
    Simon Alder Swiss National Bank simon.alder@snb.ch
    Kevin Croke Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health kevinjcroke@gmail.com
    Robert Marty World Bank rmarty@worldbank.org
    Ariana Vaisey University of Chicago Law School ariana.vaisey@gmail.com
    Date of production

    2025-10-21

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    Ethiopia ETH
    Keywords
    Transport Economic Development Regional Economic Activity Program Evaluation Satellite Data Land Use Nighttime Lights
    Topics
    ID Topic Parent topic ID Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    R4 Transportation Economics R Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    R12 Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity R1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    R14 Land Use Patterns R1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    Modified BSD3 https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Alice Duhaut World Bank aduhaut@worldbank.org
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DECDI World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2025-10-21
    Document version

    1
    Back to Catalog