The Effects of Roads on Indigenous People's Well-Being and Use of Natural Resources. A Natural Experiment in Lowland Bolivia, 2010-2013

Résumé 0

This study looks to improve estimates of the effects of the road on the well-being of indigenous peoples and on their use of natural resources. The investigators use a natural experiment based on the construction of a road through a national park inhabited by three native Amazonian groups in Bolivia. The research lasted three years (1/2010-12/2012) and took place in villages in Parque Nacional Isiboro-Secure inhabited by native Amazonians (Tsimane, Yuracare, and Moxenos). The study includes a baseline or pre-intervention study during 2010 (before the road was built) and two annual follow-up surveys (2011 and 2012) immediately after the construction of the road (2011). The variables in the data indicate measures of well-being and natural resource extraction. The measures of well-being include: (a) village income and status inequality, (b) intra-household disparities, and (c) individual cash income, (d) social capital, and (e) emotions. The measures of use of natural resources include the extraction of natural resources used for sale and for own consumption. The units of analysis are villages, households, and individuals.