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Growth of the Urban Shadow, Spatial Distribution of Economic Activities, and Commuting by Workers in Rural and Urban India

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  • Sharma, Ajay
  • Chandrasekhar, S.

Abstract

Unlike migration, scant attention has been paid to the phenomenon of commuting by workers in developing countries. This paper fills this gap by using a nationally representative data set from India to analyze factors that affect the decision of workers to commute across rural and urban areas daily. Our results suggest that regions with large peripheral urban areas or concentration of secondary sector jobs are more likely to have commuting workers. Regional rural and urban unemployment rates and rural–urban wage differentials are important push and pull factors in the decision to commute.

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  • Sharma, Ajay & Chandrasekhar, S., 2014. "Growth of the Urban Shadow, Spatial Distribution of Economic Activities, and Commuting by Workers in Rural and Urban India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 154-166.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:154-166
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Singh, Shivendu Shekhar & Sarkar, Basudatta, 2022. "Transport accessibility and affordability as the determinant of non-motorized commuting in rural India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 101-111.
    2. Amitrajeet A. Batabyal & Peter Nijkamp, 2020. "Workplace choice, commuting costs, and wage taxation in urban and adjacent rural regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(3), pages 775-786, December.
    3. João Carrilho & Jorge Trindade, 2022. "Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-35, June.
    4. Diao, Xinshen & Magalhaes, Eduardo & Silver, Jed, 2019. "Cities and rural transformation: A spatial analysis of rural livelihoods in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 141-157.
    5. S. Chandrasekhar & Ajay Sharma, 2014. "Urbanization and spatial patterns of internal migration in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2014-016, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    6. Choudhury, Charisma F. & Ayaz, Sayeeda Bint, 2015. "Why live far? — Insights from modeling residential location choice in Bangladesh," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-9.
    7. Tandel, Vaidehi & Hiranandani, Komal & Kapoor, Mudit, 2019. "What’s in a definition? A study on the suitability of the current urban definition in India through its employment guarantee programme," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 69-84.
    8. Vasavi Bhatt & S. Chandrasekhar & Ajay Sharma, 2020. "Regional Patterns and Determinants of Commuting Between Rural and Urban India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(4), pages 1041-1063, December.
    9. Jain, Manisha & Korzhenevych, Artem & Hecht, Robert, 2018. "Determinants of commuting patterns in a rural-urban megaregion of India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 98-106.
    10. Chandrasekhar, S & Sharma, Ajay & Mishra, Sumit, 2017. "Transport Mode Choice for Commuting: Evidence from India," SocArXiv qh8m5, Center for Open Science.
    11. Saadi, Ismaïl & Boussauw, Kobe & Teller, Jacques & Cools, Mario, 2016. "Trends in regional jobs-housing proximity based on the minimum commute: The case of Belgium," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 171-183.
    12. Xuesong Gao & Lun Liu & Jiexin Zhuang & Dinghua Ou & Qiquan Li & Ouping Deng & Jianqiang Li & Min Zeng, 2019. "The commuting rural labour forces revealed by mobile phone trace data," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(8), pages 1611-1614, November.
    13. Amparo Castelló-Climent & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & Ravinder, 2023. "Transforming rural economies through tertiary education: Evidence from India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-89, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Sheng, Yu & Zhao, Yuhan & Zhang, Qian & Dong, Wanlu & Huang, Jikun, 2022. "Boosting rural labor off-farm employment through urban expansion in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Sharma, Ajay, 2019. "Commuting between rural and urban areas: evidence from India," MPRA Paper 96205, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    commuting; peri-urban areas; spatial distribution of economic activities; urbanization; rural–urban interaction; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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