IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v63y2014icp43-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty Reduction During the Rural–Urban Transformation – The Role of the Missing Middle

Author

Listed:
  • Christiaensen, Luc
  • Todo, Yasuyuki

Abstract

As countries develop, they restructure away from agriculture and urbanize. But structural transformation and urbanization patterns differ substantially, with some countries fostering migration out of agriculture into rural off farm activities and secondary towns, and others undergoing rapid agglomeration in mega cities. Using cross-country panel data for developing countries spanning 1980–2004, it is found that migration out of agriculture into the missing middle (rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns) yields more inclusive growth patterns and faster poverty reduction than agglomeration in mega cities. This suggests that patterns of urbanization deserve much more attention when striving for faster poverty reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Christiaensen, Luc & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2014. "Poverty Reduction During the Rural–Urban Transformation – The Role of the Missing Middle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 43-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:63:y:2014:i:c:p:43-58
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.10.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X13002143
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.10.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Massimiliano Calì & Carlo Menon, 2013. "Does Urbanization Affect Rural Poverty? Evidence from Indian Districts," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 171-201.
    2. Durlauf, Steven N. & Johnson, Paul A. & Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2005. "Growth Econometrics," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.),Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 555-677, Elsevier.
    3. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2007. "New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 667-701, December.
    4. Neil McCulloch & Julian Weisbrod & C. Peter Timmer, 2007. "Pathways out of poverty during an economic crisis: An empirical assessment of rural Indonesia," Departmental Discussion Papers 131, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    5. Dorosh, Paul & Thurlow, James, 2014. "Can Cities or Towns Drive African Development? Economywide Analysis for Ethiopia and Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 113-123.
    6. Gero Carletto & Katia Covarrubias & Benjamin Davis & Marika Krausova & Kostas Stamoulis & Paul Winters & Alberto Zezza, 2007. "Rural income generating activities in developing countries: re-assessing the evidence," The Electronic Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4(1), pages 146-193.
    7. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1996. "How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
    8. Szirmai, Adam, 2009. "Industrialisation as an engine of growth in developing countries," MERIT Working Papers 2009-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Derek Headey & Dirk Bezemer & Peter B. Hazell, 2010. "Agricultural Employment Trends in Asia and Africa: Too Fast or Too Slow?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 25(1), pages 57-89, February.
    10. J. Vernon Henderson, 2010. "Cities And Development," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 515-540, February.
    11. Martin Ravallion, 2012. "Why Don't We See Poverty Convergence?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 504-523, February.
    12. C. Peter Timmer, 2009. "A World Without Agriculture: The Structural Transformation in Historical Perspective," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 43120, September.
    13. Kristian Behrens & Alain Pholo Bala, 2013. "Do rent-seeking and interregional transfers contribute to urban primacy in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(1), pages 163-195, March.
    14. Jonathan Temple, 2005. "Dual Economy Models: A Primer For Growth Economists," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(4), pages 435-478, July.
    15. Ravallion, Martin, 2002. "On the urbanization of poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 435-442, August.
    16. Peter Lanjouw & Rinku Murgai, 2009. "Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983–2004," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 243-263, March.
    17. Owusu, Victor & Abdulai, Awudu & Abdul-Rahman, Seini, 2011. "Non-farm work and food security among farm households in Northern Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 108-118, April.
    18. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2007. "China's (uneven) progress against poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 1-42, January.
    19. Szirmai, Adam, 2012. "Industrialisation as an engine of growth in developing countries, 1950–2005," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 406-420.
    20. Caselli, Francesco & Esquivel, Gerardo & Lefort, Fernando, 1996. "Reopening the Convergence Debate: A New Look at Cross-Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 363-389, September.
    21. Misselhorn, Mark & Klasen, Stephan, 2006. "Determinants of the Growth Semi-Elasticity of Poverty Reduction," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2006 15, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    22. Henderson, Vernon, 2003. "The Urbanization Process and Economic Growth: The So-What Question," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 47-71, March.
    23. Christiaensen, Luc & Demery, Lionel & Kuhl, Jesper, 2011. "The (evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reduction--An empirical perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 239-254, November.
    24. Luc Christiaensen & Joachim Weerdt & Yasuyuki Todo, 2013. "Urbanization and poverty reduction: the role of rural diversification and secondary towns," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(4-5), pages 435-447, July.
    25. Lall, Somik V. & Selod, Harris & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2006. "Rural-urban migration in developing countries : a survey of theoretical predictions and empirical findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3915, The World Bank.
    26. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    28. Loayza, Norman V. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2010. "The composition of growth matters for poverty alleviation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 137-151, September.
    29. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S M R, 1985. "Poverty under the Kuznets Process," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380a), pages 42-50, Supplemen.
    30. Fields, Gary S., 2005. "A welfare economic analysis of labor market policies in the Harris-Todaro model," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 127-146, February.
    31. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, Peter B. R. & Reardon, Thomas, 2009. "Transforming the rural nonfarm economy: Opportunities and threats in the developing world," Issue briefs 58, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    32. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    33. Céline Ferré & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Peter Lanjouw, 2012. "Is There a Metropolitan Bias? The relationship between poverty and city size in a selection of developing countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 26(3), pages 351-382.
    34. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    35. Lanjouw, Jean O. & Lanjouw, Peter, 1995. "Rural nonfarm employment : a survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1463, The World Bank.
    36. Kraay, Aart, 2006. "When is growth pro-poor? Evidence from a panel of countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 198-227, June.
    37. Montalvo, Jose G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2010. "The pattern of growth and poverty reduction in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 2-16, March.
    38. Suryahadi, Asep & Suryadarma, Daniel & Sumarto, Sudarno, 2009. "The effects of location and sectoral components of economic growth on poverty: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 109-117, May.
    39. Stifel, David C. & Thorbecke, Erik, 2003. "A dual-dual CGE model of an archetype African economy: trade reform, migration and poverty," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 207-235, April.
    40. Douglas Gollin & Remi Jedwab & Dietrich Vollrath, 2013. "Urbanization with and without Structural Transformation," 2013 Meeting Papers 344, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    41. Luc Christiaensen & Lionel Demery, 2007. "Down to Earth : Agriculture and Poverty Reduction in Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6624, December.
    42. Jonathan R. W. Temple, 2005. "Growth and Wage Inequality in a Dual Economy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 145-169, April.
    43. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    44. Dr Deborah Potts, 2012. "Whatever Happened to Africa’s Rapid Urbanisation?," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 13(2), pages 17-30, April.
    45. Dorosh, Paul & Thurlow, James, 2014. "Can Cities or Towns Drive African Development? Economywide Analysis for Ethiopia and Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 113-123.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luc Christiaensen & Joachim Weerdt & Yasuyuki Todo, 2013. "Urbanization and poverty reduction: the role of rural diversification and secondary towns," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(4-5), pages 435-447, July.
    2. Christiaensen, Luc & Demery, Lionel & Kuhl, Jesper, 2011. "The (evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reduction--An empirical perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 239-254, November.
    3. Rui Benfica & Heath Henderson, 2021. "The Effect of the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth on Rural and Urban Poverty," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(1), pages 248-284, March.
    4. Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Resosudarmo, Budy P., 2015. "Growth, Growth Accelerations, and the Poor: Lessons from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 154-165.
    5. De Weerdt,Joachim & Christiaensen,Luc & Kanbur,Ravi, 2021. "When Distance Drives Destination, Towns Can Stimulate Development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9622, The World Bank.
    6. Headey, Derek D. & Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Adaptation to land constraints: Is Africa different?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 18-33.
    7. Benfica, R. & Henderson, H., 2018. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 23 - The effect of the sectoral composition of economic growth on rural and urban poverty," IFAD Research Series 280072, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    8. Luc Christiaensen & Lionel Demery & Jesper Kühl, 2010. "The (Evolving) Role of Agriculture in Poverty Reduction," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-036, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Nobuhiko Fuwa & Arsenio M. Balisacan & Fabrizio Bresciani, 2015. "In Search of a Strategy for Making Growth More Pro-Poor in the Philippines," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 14(1), pages 202-226, Winter/Sp.
    10. Celine Bonnefond, 2014. "Growth Dynamics And Conditional Convergence Among Chinese Provinces: A Panel Data Investigation Using System Gmm Estimator," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Gustavo Canavire‐Bacarreza & Michael Jetter & Marcos Robles, 2018. "When Does Economic Growth Reduce Poverty and Strengthen the Middle Class? A State‐Level, Sector‐Specific Analysis of Peru," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 1067-1087, April.
    12. Ms. Valerie Cerra & Mr. Ruy Lama & Norman Loayza, 2021. "Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey," IMF Working Papers 2021/068, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Ouyang, Yusi & Shimeles, Abebe & Thorbecke, Erik, 2019. "Revisiting cross-country poverty convergence in the developing world with a special focus on Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 13-28.
    14. Joachim Vandercasteelen & Seneshaw Tamru & Bart Minten & Johan Swinnen, 2017. "Secondary towns, agricultural prices, and intensification: Evidence from Ethiopia," LICOS Discussion Papers 39317, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    15. Vandercasteelen, Joachim & Beyene, Seneshaw Tambru & Minten, Bart & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 393-406.
    16. Christiaensen, Luc & Pan,Lei & Wang, Sangui, 2010. "Drivers of Poverty Reduction in Lagging Regions: Evidence from Rural Western China," WIDER Working Paper Series 035, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Mahé, Clothilde & Naudé, Wim, 2016. "Migration, occupation and education: Evidence from Ghana," MERIT Working Papers 2016-018, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    18. Zeira, Joseph & di Vaio, Gianfranco & Battisti, Michele, 2013. "Global Divergence in Growth Regressions," CEPR Discussion Papers 9687, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Saari, M. Yusof & Dietzenbacher, Erik & Los, Bart, 2014. "Production interdependencies and poverty reduction across ethnic groups in Malaysia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 146-158.
    20. Castells-Quintana, David, 2017. "Malthus living in a slum: Urban concentration, infrastructure and economic growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 158-173.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:63:y:2014:i:c:p:43-58. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.