Clare Balboni, MIT

Coasts contain a disproportionate share of the world’s population, reflecting historical advantages,

but environmental change threatens a reversal of coastal fortune in the coming decades

as natural disasters intensify and sea levels rise. This paper considers whether large infrastructure

investments should continue to favour coastal areas. I use a dynamic spatial equilibrium

framework and detailed georeferenced data from Vietnam to examine this issue and find evidence

that coastal favouritism has significant costs. Road investments concentrated in coastal