The Infrastructure for Development Conference series (#Infra4Dev) is an initiative of the World Bank’s Infrastructure Vice-Presidency, aiming to promote dialogue and exchange between leading edge economic researchers and the wider community of policymakers and practitioners on leveraging infrastructure for development.

The World Bank and the International Growth Centre, based at the London School of Economics, are partnering for the third annual #Infra4Dev Conference, to be held online on the mornings (ET) of 3rd and 4th March 2022. This year we are doing an international 'Call for Papers' to promote engagement with a diverse range of scholars across the world. The deadline for the submission of papers is 16th January 2022, and interested researchers are encouraged to participate by following instructions on the tab below.

Policy makers around the world are currently grappling with the immediate economic recovery from the global pandemic, while at the same time trying to steer the global economy on to a more sustainable long-term development path. Accordingly, the theme for this year’s conference is the impact of infrastructure on economic development. We will explore how a range of infrastructural developments – including digital, urban transport, economic corridors, and energy systems – contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Evaluating the impact of infrastructure on economic development presents multiple challenges – proper identification and measurement of impact, evaluation of long-term and general equilibrium effects, interactions between different types of infrastructure, to name a few. We are particularly interested in papers that rigorously estimate the impact of infrastructure on economic outcomes, especially where these present methodological innovations. Focus on developing countries would also be appreciated.

The program committee includes Robin Burgess, Estefania Cobos, Dave Donaldson, Vivien Foster, Jonas Hjort, Kelsey Jack, Jonathan Leape, Maria Lebrand, Mumba Ngulube, Steven Redding, Sharada Srinivasan, Jevgenijs Steinbuks, Nick Tsivanidis, and Maria Vagliasindi.

Contact and submission of papers: Please direct any queries regarding this call to infra4dev@worldbank.org.