Gachassin, MarieNajman, BorisRaballand, Gael2014-09-022014-09-022010-02https://hdl.handle.net/10986/19924Many investments in infrastructure are built on the belief that they will ineluctably lead to poverty reduction and income generation. This has entailed massive aid-financed projects in roads in developing countries. However, the lack of robust evaluations and a comprehensive theoretical framework could raise questions about current strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the second Cameroonian national household survey (Enquete Camerounaise Aupres des Menages II, 2001) and the Cameroon case study, this paper demonstrates that investing uniformly in tarred roads in Africa is likely to have a much lower impact on poverty than expected. Isolation from a tarred road is found to have no direct impact on consumption expenditures in Cameroon. The only impact is an indirect one in the access to labor activities. This paper reasserts the fact that access to roads is only one factor contributing to poverty reduction (and not necessarily the most important in many cases). Considering that increase in non-farming activities is the main driver for poverty reduction in rural Africa, the results contribute to the idea that emphasis on road investments should be given to locations where non-farming activities could be developed, which does mean that the last mile in rural areas probably should not be a road.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS ROADSACCESS TO EDUCATIONACCESS TO MARKETSACCESSIBILITYAGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTURAL WAGEAID AGENCIESAID EFFECTIVENESSANNUAL GROWTHANNUAL GROWTH RATEARABLE LANDAVERAGE LEVELBUSINESS CYCLECASH CROPSCASH-CROPCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION EXPENDITURESCONSUMPTION GROWTHCONSUMPTION PER CAPITACROP YIELDSDAILY TRANSPORTDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT INDICATORSDEVELOPMENT REPORTDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDIMENSIONS OF POVERTYDISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTSDIVERSIFICATIONECOLOGICAL ZONESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONSECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICYECONOMICSEMPIRICAL STUDIESEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESESTIMATED PARAMETEREXPLANATORY VARIABLESFAMINEFARMERFARMERSFARMING ACTIVITIESFEEDER ROADSFIXED EFFECTSFOOD CROPSFOOD EXPENDITURESFOOD MARKETSFOOD POLICYFOOD PRICESFOOD PROCESSINGGEOGRAPHIC POVERTY TRAPSHIGHWAYHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSINGHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN CAPITAL FORMATIONIMPACT ON POVERTYIMPACT ON POVERTY REDUCTIONINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOMEINCOME GENERATIONINCOME INCREASEINDIVIDUAL FARMERSINEQUALITYINFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATIONINFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSINFRASTRUCTURESINVESTMENT IN ROADSINVESTMENT RATELABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLIVELIHOOD STRATEGIESLIVING STANDARDSMALNUTRITIONMASSIVE INVESTMENTSMEANS OF TRANSPORTMICRO MODELMOBILITYNATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEMNEGATIVE IMPACTNON-POOR GROUPNONFARM INCOMEPER CAPITA EXPENDITUREPOLICEPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOORPOOR AREAPOOR GROUPSPOOR HOUSEHOLDPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PEOPLEPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY IMPACTPOVERTY INDICATORPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY REDUCTION IMPACTPOVERTY SEVERITYPOVERTY SITUATIONPOVERTY STATUSPRO-POORPRO-POOR GROWTHPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC INVESTMENTRAILWAYREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL CHARACTERISTICSREGIONAL DUMMIESRELATIVE PRICESREMOTE AREASROADROAD DEVELOPMENTROAD INVESTMENTROAD NETWORKROAD PROJECTSROAD USERSROADSRURALRURAL ACTIVITIESRURAL AREARURAL AREASRURAL COMMUNITIESRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL DISTRICTSRURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL ISSUESRURAL PHENOMENONRURAL POORRURAL POOR HOUSEHOLDSRURAL POVERTYRURAL POVERTY REDUCTIONRURAL ROADRURAL ROADSSCHOOLINGSIGNIFICANT EFFECTSIGNIFICANT IMPACTSUBSISTENCETRANSACTION COSTSTRANSPORTTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURETRANSPORT SERVICESTRAVEL TIMEUNEMPLOYMENTUNSKILLED LABORURBAN AREASWALKINGWEALTH10.1596/1813-9450-5209