IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v61y2014icp154-166.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14001028
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.003?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. Ejaz Ghani & Arti Grover Goswami & William R. Kerr, 2012. "Is India’s Manufacturing Sector Moving Away From Cities?," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-090, Harvard Business School.
    2. McMillen, Daniel P. & Singell, Larry Jr., 1992. "Work location, residence location, and the intraurban wage gradient," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 195-213, September.
    3. Krugman, Paul & Elizondo, Raul Livas, 1996. "Trade policy and the Third World metropolis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 137-150, April.
    4. Pradhan, Kanhu Charan, 2013. "Unacknowledged Urbanisation: The New Census Towns of India," MPRA Paper 41035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Brueckner, Jan K. & Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Zenou, Yves, 1999. "Why is central Paris rich and downtown Detroit poor?: An amenity-based theory," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 91-107, January.
    6. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1991. "Subcenters in the Los Angeles Region," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6ts0t95w, University of California Transportation Center.
    7. Kim S. So & Peter F. Orazem & Daniel M. Otto, 2001. "The Effects of Housing Prices, Wages, and Commuting Time on Joint Residential and Job Location Choices," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 1036-1048.
    8. Alexander Ebertz, 2009. "The Determinants of Joint Residential and Job Location Choices: A Mixed Logit Approach," ifo Working Paper Series 82, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    9. van Ommeren, Jos & Rietveld, Piet & Nijkamp, Peter, 1997. "Commuting: In Search of Jobs and Residences," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 402-421, November.
    10. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1991. "Subcenters in the Los Angeles region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 163-182, July.
    11. Feler, Leo & Henderson, J. Vernon, 2011. "Exclusionary policies in urban development: Under-servicing migrant households in Brazilian cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 253-272, May.
    12. Lanjouw, Peter & Quizon, Jaime & Sparrow, Robert, 2001. "Non-agricultural earnings in peri-urban areas of Tanzania: evidence from household survey data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 385-403, August.
    13. Marcel Fafchamps & Forhad Shilpi, 2003. "The spatial division of labour in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 23-66.
    14. Bun Song Lee & John F. McDonald, 2003. "Determinants of Commuting Time and Distance for Seoul Residents: The Impact of Family Status on the Commuting of Women," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(7), pages 1283-1302, June.
    15. Thomas J. Holmes, 1999. "Localization Of Industry And Vertical Disintegration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 314-325, May.
    16. Holmes, Thomas J. & Stevens, John J., 2004. "Spatial distribution of economic activities in North America," 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 63, pages 2797-2843, Elsevier.
    17. Breman,Jan, 1996. "Footloose Labour," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521568241, December.
    18. Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp & Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp, 2004. "Job Moving, Residential Moving, and Commuting: A Search Perspective," Chapters, in: Location, Travel and Information Technology, chapter 11, pages 223-246, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Deichmann, Uwe & Shilpi, Forhad & Vakis, Renos, 2009. "Urban Proximity, Agricultural Potential and Rural Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 645-660, March.
    20. Pissarides, Christopher A & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 1989. "Unemployment and the Inter-regional Mobility of Labour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 739-755, September.
    21. Manuel Artís & Javier Romaní & Jordi Suriñach, 2000. "Determinants of Individual Commuting in Catalonia, 1986-91: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(8), pages 1431-1450, July.
    22. Sanjoy Chakravorty, 2003. "Industrial location in post-reform India: patterns of inter-regional divergence and intra-regional convergence," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 120-152.
    23. Breman,Jan, 1996. "Footloose Labour," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521560832, December.
    24. So, Kim Sui & Orazem, Peter & Otto, Daniel, 2001. "The Effects of Housing Prices, Wages, and Commuting Time on Urban-Rural Residential Choice," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1204, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    25. Anette Haas & Liv Osland, 2014. "Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Markets: Complex Interactions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(3), pages 463-476, February.
    26. Zax, Jeffrey S., 1994. "When is a move a migration?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 341-360, June.
    27. White, Michelle J., 1988. "Location choice and commuting behavior in cities with decentralized employment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 129-152, September.
    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. 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 & Dinghua Ou & Haomiao Yuwu, 2023. "Using mobile phone data to probe the mobility‐related well‐being of rural residents: A case study of Chengdu, China," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(9), pages 1893-1906, December.
    13. 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.
    14. 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).
    15. 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).
    16. Sharma, Ajay, 2019. "Commuting between rural and urban areas: evidence from India," MPRA Paper 96205, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Sharma, Ajay & Chandrasekhar, S., 2016. "Impact of commuting by workers on household dietary diversity in rural India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 34-43.
    2. Javier Romani & Jordi Surinach & Manuel Artiis, 2003. "Are Commuting and Residential Mobility Decisions Simultaneous?: The Case of Catalonia, Spain," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(8), pages 813-826.
    3. Manuel Artís & Javier Romaní & Jordi Suriñach, 2000. "Determinants of Individual Commuting in Catalonia, 1986-91: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(8), pages 1431-1450, July.
    4. Rose, Heather & Sonstelie, Jon, 2010. "School board politics, school district size, and the bargaining power of teachers' unions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 438-450, May.
    5. Wheaton, William C., 2004. "Commuting, congestion, and employment dispersal in cities with mixed land use," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 417-438, May.
    6. Rouwendal, Jan, 1998. "Search Theory, Spatial Labor Markets, and Commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Reichelt, Malte & Haas, Anette, 2015. "Commuting farther and earning more? : how employment density moderates workers commuting distance," IAB-Discussion Paper 201533, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Sharma, Ajay, 2019. "Commuting between rural and urban areas: evidence from India," MPRA Paper 96205, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Rémi Lemoy & Charles Raux & Pablo Jensen, 2016. "Exploring the polycentric city with multi-worker households: an agent-based microeconomic model," Post-Print hal-00602087, HAL.
    10. Zhao, Pengjun & Cao, Yushu, 2020. "Commuting inequity and its determinants in Shanghai: New findings from big-data analytics," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 20-37.
    11. Chunil Kim & Choongik Choi, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.
    12. Modarres, Ali, 2003. "Polycentricity and transit service," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 841-864, December.
    13. C. Duvivier & S. Li & M.-F. Renard, 2013. "Are workers close to cities paid higher nonagricultural wages in rural China?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(30), pages 4308-4322, October.
    14. Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, Eva & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2010. "Labour supply and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 82-89, July.
    15. Alejandro Diaz-Bautista, 2005. "Agglomeration Economies, Economic Growth and the New Economic Geography in Mexico," Urban/Regional 0508001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Cécile Détang‐Dessendre & Florence Goffette‐Nagot & Virginie Piguet, 2008. "Life Cycle And Migration To Urban And Rural Areas: Estimation Of A Mixed Logit Model On French Data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 789-824, October.
    17. Schuetz, Jenny & Larrimore, Jeff & Merry, Ellen A. & Robles, Barbara J. & Tranfaglia, Anna & Gonzalez, Arturo, 2018. "Are central cities poor and non-white?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-94.
    18. Nappi-Choulet, Ingrid & Décamps, Aurélien, 2011. "Is Sustainability Attractive for Corporate Real Estate Decisions ?," ESSEC Working Papers WP1106, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    19. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel, 2010. "Population suburbanization in Barcelona, 1991-2005: Is its spatial structure changing?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 119-132, June.
    20. Jaime Sobrino, 2014. "Urban competitiveness and industrial clusters in Mexico," Chapters, in: Pengfei Ni & Zheng Qiongjie (ed.), Urban Competitiveness and Innovation, chapter 15, pages 252-274, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    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

    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:wdevel:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:154-166. 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.