Complementarities in Infrastructure: Evidence from Indian Agriculture

Complementarities between infrastructure projects have been understudied. Using temporal variation in the independent rollout of large-scale road construction and electrification programs in rural India, this study estimates their individual and joint impacts on a range of outcomes. Notably, there is strong evidence that villages increase dry-season cropping when they receive both electricity and roads, but not when they receive one without the other. This increase in dry-season cropping is associated with a move towards market crops and improved economic conditions—i.e., higher assets and consumption. These findings have implications for the optimal implementation of infrastructure programs.