Cities in the developing world

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Rapid urbanisation is a major feature of developing countries. Some 2 billion more people are likely to become city residents in the next 30 years, yet urbanisation has received little attention in the modern development economics literature. This paper reviews theoretical and empirical work on the determinants and effects of urbanisation. This suggests that there are substantial productivity benefits from cities, although unregulated outcomes may well lead to excessive primacy as externalities and coordination failures inhibit decentralisation of economic activity. Policy should operate both by identifying and addressing these market failures, and by seeking to remove institutional obstacles to decentralisation.

Keywords: Urbanisation; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 R0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2005-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/19887/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Cities in the Developing World (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:19887

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