2026-07-01http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/414630India's rural roads program, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, aims to draw villagers into the mainstream by improving not only their terms of trade, but also their educational attainments and health. Treating each all-weather feeder road as an isolated element within the larger network, and using shadow prices to value the main components of costs and benefits, the paper demonstrates that further investments in the program are, with high probability, socially profitable, especially in poorer and more densely settled regions. Taking the entire set of new individual roads together, qualitative arguments suggest that their external and spill-over effects on the system as a whole probably generate some net additional benefits, but of very uncertain magnitude.application/pdftext/plainCC BY 3.0 IGOhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/World BankACCESSIBILITYACCIDENTSADOLESCENTSADVERSE EFFECTSAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL WAGESAGRICULTUREBIKESBONDSCAPITAL MARKETSCOMMUNICABLE DISEASESCONGESTIONCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMERSCOST ANALYSISCOST-BENEFIT ANALYSISDECISION VARIABLESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDIESELDISCOUNT RATEDISTORTIONARY TAXESDISTRICT ROADSDRAUGHT ANIMALSDRINKING WATERECONOMIC ANALYSISECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMICS LITERATUREELASTICITYELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTIONEMPIRICAL BASISEQUIVALENT VARIATIONEXPECTED UTILITYEXPENDITURESEXTERNAL COSTSEXTERNALITIESEXTERNALITYFAMILIESFEEDER ROADFEEDER ROADSFOOTPATHSFUNCTIONAL FORMSGDPGROWTH RATEHIGHWAYHUMAN CAPITALINCOMEINCREASING RETURNSINDUSTRIALIZATIONINJURYINTERNATIONAL TRADEISOLATIONJOURNEYMARGINAL UTILITYMARKET PRICESMARKETINGMIGRATIONMORBIDITYMORTALITYMOTOR FUELNATIONAL INCOMENET EXPORTSOPPORTUNITY COSTPATIENTPATIENTSPER CAPITA INCOMESPOLLUTIONPOPULATION GROWTHPRESENT VALUEPRODUCTIVITY INCREASESPROFITABILITYPUBLIC GOODPUBLIC GOODSRECONSTRUCTIONREDUCTION IN TRAVELROADROAD MAINTENANCEROAD NETWORKROAD PRICINGROAD PROJECTSRURAL ROADRURAL ROADSRURAL TRAFFICSAVINGSSHADOW PRICESSTATE HIGHWAYSSUNK COSTSTAXATIONTAXISTERMS OF TRADETRAFFIC VOLUMESTRANSPORTTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORTATIONTRANSPORTATION COSTSTRIPTRIPSTRUCKSUTILITY FUNCTIONVOLUME OF TRAFFICWAGE RATESWAGESWILLINGNESS TO PAYWORKERSYOUNG ADULTS