Advances in Development Economics

Urban Land Management and Housing

It is not easy to control migration into a city. Therefore, cities become overcrowded with growing competition for space, mobility and resources. In the past 30 years the urban population in the Asian and Pacific region has increased by 560 million people (or 260 per cent) and in the next 30 years it is expected to increase by about 1,450 million people (or 250 per cent).

A while ago we wrote about the World Bank's Geo, a very useful Google map to browse WB's projects, news, statistics and public information centers by country.

The online directory AiDA (Accessible Information on Development Activities), has now put together a similar Google map with information about development activities. By clicking on a country we can see a summary of the development activities taking place there, classified according to Sector, Agency and Donor. 

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati participated in a Global Dialogue organized by the World Bank Institute, on the trade impact of the global economic crisis and trade policy responses. Other trade experts from Brazil, India, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka joined this discussion, part of our ongoing series of Global Dialogues as a Response to the Global Economic Crisis.
 
Watch a video of the discussion.
Access the main page of the Global Dialogues series.

From Raj Nallari and Indira Iyer's lecture notes.

Income and Employment

Urban cities provide drawing power for rural migrants seeking more economic opportunities. Duranton (2008) points out that labor mobility is crucial to the growth process as it generates new ideas and opportunities. Labor mobility responds to wage differentials across different locations. A study by Prud’homme (1996) indicates that the GDP per capita in most cities in Asian developing countries are higher than their national incomes. As seen in the table below, the per capita income in cities was 3.66 times the per capita income of the country in Shanghai, and 1.13 times the national average in Seoul.

GDP of Urban Areas Compared with National GDP