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Rural-urban migration in developing countries : a survey of theoretical predictions and empirical findings

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Lall, Somik V.
Selod, Harris
Shalizi, Zmarak

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Abstract

The migration of labor from rural to urban areas is an important part of the urbanization process in developing countries. Even though it has been the focus of abundant research over the past five decades, some key policy questions have not found clear answers yet. To what extent is internal migration a desirable phenomenon and under what circumstances? Should governments intervene and, if so, with what types of interventions? What should be their policy objectives? To shed light on these important issues, the authors survey the existing theoretical models and their conflicting policy implications and discuss the policies that may be justified based on recent relevant empirical studies. A key limitation is that much of the empirical literature does not provide structural tests of the theoretical models, but only provides partial findings that can support or invalidate intuitions and in that sense, support or invalidate the policy implications of the models. The authors'broad assessment of the literature is that migration can be beneficial or at least be turned into a beneficial phenomenon so that in general migration restrictions are not desirable. They also identify some data issues and research topics which merit further investigation.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3915.

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Date of creation: 01 May 2006
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3915

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Keywords: Labor Markets; Urban Housing and Land Settlements; National Urban Development Policies&Strategies; Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement; Economic Theory&Research;

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Duranton, Gilles, 2008. "From Cities to Productivity and Growth in Developing Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 6634, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Steven Poelhekke & Frederick Van der Ploeg, 2008. "Globalization and the Rise of Mega-Cities in the Developing World," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Kitti, Mitri & Heikkila, Jaakko & Huhtala, Anni, 2006. "Fair policies for the coffee trade - protecting people or biodiversity?," Discussion Papers 11858, MTT Agrifood Research Finland. [Downloadable!]
  4. Zhu, Nong & Luo, Xubei, 2008. "The impact of remittances on rural poverty and inequality in China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4637, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Carine Milcent, 2009. "Healthcare access for migrants in China : A new frontier," PSE Working Papers 2009-37, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Lall, Somik V. & Timmins, Christopher & Yu, Shouyue, 2009. "Connecting lagging and leading regions : the role of labor mobility," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4843, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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