Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Cities in the developing world

Bryan, Gharad ORCID: 0009-0000-2449-930X, Glaeser, Edward and Tsivanidis, Nick (2020) Cities in the developing world. Annual Review of Economics, 12. 273 - 297. ISSN 1941-1383

Full text not available from this repository.

Identification Number: 10.1146/annurev-economics-080218-030303

Abstract

The fast and often chaotic urbanization of the developing world generates both economic opportunity and challenges, like contagious disease and congestion, because proximity increases both positive and negative externalities. In this article, we review the expanding body of economic research on developing-world cities. One strand of this literature emphasizes the economic benefits of urban connection, typically finding that agglomeration benefits are at least as high in poor countries as they are in rich countries. Yet there remains an ongoing debate about whether slums provide a path to prosperity or an economic dead end. A second strand of research analyzes the negative externalities associated with urban density, and the challenges of building and maintaining infrastructure to moderate those harms. Researchers are just beginning to understand the links between institutions (such as public-private partnerships), incentives (such as congestion pricing), and the effectiveness of infrastructure spending in addressing urban problems. A third line of research addresses the spatial structure of cities directly with formal, structural models. These structural models seem particularly valuable when analyzing land-use and transportation systems in the far more fluid cities of the developing world.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: https://www.annualreviews.org/journal/economics
Additional Information: © 2020 by Annual Reviews
Divisions: Economics
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Date Deposited: 05 Nov 2020 15:24
Last Modified: 01 Nov 2024 05:36
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/107145

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item