IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jhouse/v51y2021ics1051137720300796.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty: The case of Nairobi

Author

Listed:
  • Nakamura, Shohei
  • Avner, Paolo

Abstract

The inter-connectedness of workers’ residential locations and job opportunities is a key determinant of labor market outcomes. This study provides an analysis of the spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty in a large African city. In Nairobi, Kenya, workers and jobs are not well connected: On average, residents can access fewer than 10 percent of existing jobs by foot within an hour. Even using a minibus, they can reach only about a quarter of jobs. This study further demonstrates that poorer households and residents living in informal settlements are even more limited. Living closer to job opportunities is costly in Nairobi. Not only are housing quality and living conditions frequently better in such areas, but the high value placed on job accessibility also makes these areas more expensive. This severely affects the residential location choices of low-income households.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakamura, Shohei & Avner, Paolo, 2021. "Spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty: The case of Nairobi," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhouse:v:51:y:2021:i:c:s1051137720300796
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhe.2020.101743
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1051137720300796
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jhe.2020.101743?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atuesta, Laura H. & Ibarra-Olivo, J. Eduardo & Lozano-Gracia, Nancy & Deichmann, Uwe, 2018. "Access to employment and property values in Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 142-154.
    2. Kelejian, Harry H. & Prucha, Ingmar R., 2010. "Specification and estimation of spatial autoregressive models with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(1), pages 53-67, July.
    3. Peralta Quiros,Tatiana & Kerzhner,Tamara & Avner,Paolo, 2019. "Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8971, The World Bank.
    4. Julia Bird & Piero Montebruno & Tanner Regan, 2017. "Life in a slum: understanding living conditions in Nairobi’s slums across time and space," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(3), pages 496-520.
    5. Olof Åslund & John Östh & Yves Zenou, 2010. "How important is access to jobs? Old question--improved answer," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 389-422, May.
    6. Lucci, Paula & Bhatkal, Tanvi & Khan, Amina, 2018. "Are we underestimating urban poverty?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 297-310.
    7. Stewart, Anson F. & Zegras, P. Christopher, 2016. "CoAXs: A Collaborative Accessibility-based Stakeholder Engagement System for communicating transport impacts," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 423-433.
    8. Malpezzi, Stephen, 1998. "Welfare analysis of rent control with side payments: a natural experiment in Cairo, Egypt1," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 773-795, November.
    9. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    10. Benjamin Marx & Thomas Stoker & Tavneet Suri, 2013. "The Economics of Slums in the Developing World," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(4), pages 187-210, Fall.
    11. Benjamin Marx & Thomas M. Stoker & Tavneet Suri, 2019. "There Is No Free House: Ethnic Patronage in a Kenyan Slum," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 36-70, October.
    12. Kelejian, Harry H & Prucha, Ingmar R, 1998. "A Generalized Spatial Two-Stage Least Squares Procedure for Estimating a Spatial Autoregressive Model with Autoregressive Disturbances," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 99-121, July.
    13. Sumila Gulyani & Ellen M. Bassett & Debabrata Talukdar, 2012. "Living Conditions, Rents, and Their Determinants in the Slums of Nairobi and Dakar," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(2), pages 251-274.
    14. Kelejian, Harry H & Prucha, Ingmar R, 1999. "A Generalized Moments Estimator for the Autoregressive Parameter in a Spatial Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(2), pages 509-533, May.
    15. World Bank, 2016. "Kenya Urbanization Review," World Bank Publications - Reports 23753, The World Bank Group.
    16. Williams, Sarah & White, Adam & Waiganjo, Peter & Orwa, Daniel & Klopp, Jacqueline, 2015. "The digital matatu project: Using cell phones to create an open source data for Nairobi's semi-formal bus system," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 39-51.
    17. Emmanuel Jimenez, 1983. "The Magnitude and Determinants of Home Improvement in Self-Help Housing: Manila's Tondo Project," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(1), pages 70-83.
    18. Daniere, Amrita G., 1994. "Estimating willingness-to-pay for housing attributes an application to Cairo and Manila," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 577-599, October.
    19. Simon Franklin, 2018. "Location, Search Costs and Youth Unemployment: Experimental Evidence from Transport Subsidies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2353-2379, September.
    20. Kaufmann, Daniel & Quigley, John M., 1987. "The consumption benefits of investment in infrastructure : The evaluation of sites-and-services programs in underdeveloped countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 263-284, April.
    21. Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), 2015. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    22. World Bank, 2018. "Kenya Gender and Poverty Assessment 2015-2016," World Bank Publications - Reports 31285, The World Bank Group.
    23. Laura O. Taylor, 2008. "Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Developments in Hedonic Modeling," Springer Books, in: Andrea Baranzini & José Ramirez & Caroline Schaerer & Philippe Thalmann (ed.), Hedonic Methods in Housing Markets, chapter 1, pages 15-37, Springer.
    24. Bundervoet,Tom & Maiyo,Laban & Sanghi,Apurva, 2015. "Bright Lights, Big Cities : measuring national and subnational economic growth in Africa from outer space, with an application to Kenya and Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7461, The World Bank.
    25. Nakamura, Shohei, 2017. "Tenure Security Premium in Informal Housing Markets: A Spatial Hedonic Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 184-198.
    26. Friedman, Joseph & Jimenez, Emmanuel & Mayo, Stephen K., 1988. "The demand for tenure security in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 185-198, September.
    27. John F. Kain, 1968. "Housing Segregation, Negro Employment, and Metropolitan Decentralization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(2), pages 175-197.
    28. Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1984. "Tenure Security and Urban Squatting," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(4), pages 556-567, November.
    29. Avner,Paolo & Lall,Somik V., 2016. "Matchmaking in Nairobi : the role of land use," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7904, The World Bank.
    30. Henderson, Vernon & Venables, Anthony J. & Regan, Tanner & Samsonov, Ilia, 2016. "Building functional cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66832, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    31. Ivan Turok & Jackie Borel-Saladin, 2018. "The theory and reality of urban slums: Pathways-out-of-poverty or cul-de-sacs?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(4), pages 767-789, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Heerden, Quintin & Karsten, Carike & Holloway, Jenny & Petzer, Engela & Burger, Paul & Mans, Gerbrand, 2022. "Accessibility, affordability, and equity in long-term spatial planning: Perspectives from a developing country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 104-119.
    2. Yele Maweki Batana & Shohei Nakamura & Anirudh Rajashekar & Mervy Ever Viboudoulou Vilpoux & Christina Wieser, 2024. "Spatial heterogeneity of COVID‐19 impacts on urban household incomes: Between‐ and within‐city analyses of two African countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(3), pages 1918-1943, April.
    3. Leandro Batista Duarte & Raul da Mota Silveira Neto & Diego Firmino Costa da Silva, 2023. "The relevance of job accessibility to labour market outcomes: Evidence for the São Paulo metropolitan region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(16), pages 3233-3251, December.
    4. Kerzhner, Tamara, 2022. "Formalization of East Jerusalem public transport: Mobility, politics and planning," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    5. Batana,Yele Maweki,Nakamura,Shohei,Rajashekar,Anirudh Venkatanarayan,Viboudoulou Vilpoux,Mervy Ever,Wieser,Christina, 2021. "Spatial Heterogeneity of COVID-19 Impacts on Urban Household Incomes : Between- and Within-City Evidence from Two African Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9762, The World Bank.
    6. Cyprian Chwiałkowski & Adam Zydroń, 2021. "Socio-Economic and Spatial Characteristics of Wielkopolski National Park: Application of the Hedonic Pricing Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Daniels, Chux & AbdulRafiu, Abbas, 2022. "Transitioning to electrified, automated and shared mobility in an African context: A comparative review of Johannesburg, Kigali, Lagos and Nairobi," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Dumedah, Gift & Abass, Kabila & Gyasi, Razak M. & Forkuor, John Boulard & Novignon, Jacob, 2023. "Inefficient allocation of paratransit service terminals and routes in Ghana: The role of driver unions and paratransit operators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    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. Nakamura, Shohei, 2017. "Tenure Security Premium in Informal Housing Markets: A Spatial Hedonic Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 184-198.
    2. Talukdar, Debabrata, 2018. "Cost of being a slum dweller in Nairobi: Living under dismal conditions but still paying a housing rent premium," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-56.
    3. Celhay, Pablo & Undurraga, Raimundo, 2022. "Location Preferences and Slums Formation: Evidence from a Panel of Residence Histories," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lall, Somik V., 2015. "Cities in Developing Countries," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1399-1455, Elsevier.
    5. Mats A. Bergman & Johan Lundberg & Sofia Lundberg & Johan Y. Stake, 2020. "Interactions Across Firms and Bid Rigging," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 107-130, February.
    6. Cai,Yongyang & Selod,Harris & Steinbuks,Jevgenijs, 2015. "Urbanization and property rights," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7486, The World Bank.
    7. Malpezzi, Stephen, 2001. "The Contributions of Stephen K. Mayo to Housing and Urban Economics," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 72-108, June.
    8. Gupta, Abhimanyu & Robinson, Peter M., 2015. "Inference on higher-order spatial autoregressive models with increasingly many parameters," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 186(1), pages 19-31.
    9. Albouy, David & Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric & Seegert, Nathan, 2019. "The optimal distribution of population across cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 102-113.
    10. Guido M. Kuersteiner & Ingmar R. Prucha, 2020. "Dynamic Spatial Panel Models: Networks, Common Shocks, and Sequential Exogeneity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(5), pages 2109-2146, September.
    11. Patrick S. Ward & Valerien O. Pede, 2015. "Capturing social network effects in technology adoption: the spatial diffusion of hybrid rice in Bangladesh," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(2), pages 225-241, April.
    12. Ariane Amin & Johanna Choumert, 2015. "Development and biodiversity conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A spatial analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(1), pages 729-744.
    13. Picard, Pierre M. & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Urban Spatial Structure, Employment and Social Ties: European versus American Cities," IZA Discussion Papers 9166, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Gibbons, Steve & Overman, Henry G. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2015. "Spatial Methods," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 115-168, Elsevier.
    15. Badi H. Baltagi & Peter H. Egger & Michaela Kesina, 2022. "Bayesian estimation of multivariate panel probits with higher‐order network interdependence and an application to firms' global market participation in Guangdong," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(7), pages 1356-1378, November.
    16. Borsky, Stefan & Kalkschmied, Katja, 2019. "Corruption in space: A closer look at the world's subnations," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 400-422.
    17. Jingjing Gao & Gabriela A. Gallegos & Joe F. West, 2023. "Public Health Policy, Political Ideology, and Public Emotion Related to COVID-19 in the U.S," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(21), pages 1-14, October.
    18. Zhang Yuanqing, 2014. "Estimation of Partially Specified Spatial Autoregressive Model," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 226-235, June.
    19. Gupta, Abhimanyu, 2019. "Estimation Of Spatial Autoregressions With Stochastic Weight Matrices," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 417-463, April.
    20. Shang, Qingyan & Poon, Jessie P.H. & Yue, Qingtang, 2012. "The role of regional knowledge spillovers on China's innovation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1164-1175.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job accessibility; Urban poverty; Slums; Urban planning; Housing rent;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jhouse:v:51:y:2021:i:c:s1051137720300796. 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/inca/622881 .

    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.