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Abstract
The relationship between poverty incidence and road development is analyzed
in this paper, in the context of rural Laos. The results indicate that improving
road access is an effective way of reducing rural poverty. Between 1997-98 and
2002-03, rural poverty incidence in Laos declined by almost on tenth of the
rural population. Over this same period road improvement was significant,
providing all-season access to many areas previously having only dry season
access. The analysis provided in this paper suggests that about 13 per cent of
the poverty reduction can be attributed to improvements in road access.