"Lump together and like it" - The Economist, November 6th 2008, Development Economics, Fall 2008

Résumé du document

Focusing on the Chinese example, this article emphasizes the controversial relationship between urbanization and growth in poor countries. Based on the World Development Report (from the World Bank), it presents the point of view of those who are willing to slow down the urbanization process, and the ones who agree on its positive impact. More importantly, as the increase of the share of urban people is an undeniable fact, the article tries to define the policy that governments should adopt in order to make urbanization a consideration in economic development policy. Considering the article and the different economic research, how can we consider the correlation between urbanization and economic development in the developing countries?

Extraits

[...] Chenery and T. N. Srinivasan (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 1. - Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith (2006), Economic Development, Chapter Urbanization and Rural-Urban Migration: Theory and Policy. - Robert B. Potter and Ademola T.Salau, Cities & Development in the Third World Graph “Lump together and like The Economist, Graph “Lump together and like The Economist, November 6th 2008 November 6th 2008 Determinants of migration, Development Economics, lecture Sandra Poncet. Cf. Graph 1 Cf. [...]

[...] At the same time, the informal sector has developed, and its role is actually very controversial. If some saw it as a parasitic activity, it now appears to be a phenomenon that increases one's capacity of being unemployed in the formal sector. When considering the profile of the migrants (young adults, mostly males, educated) another controversy appears in whether migration to urban centres, or urbanization, is a “brain drain” or a “brain gain”. Even if it represents gains for the migrant and for the city (through the rise of unskilled labour supplies), it is nevertheless a loss for the community of origin. [...]

[...] For instance, the population of Dongguan (China) increased tenfold from 1988 to 2008 million). According to the article, this is because the city is home to 30% of the magnetic recording heads and 16% of the electronic keyboard, at the worldwide scale. Another key explanation is the fact that people want to gather in order to reduce the “iceberg costs” (linked to transports, language and cultural distance). Actually, cheap transport “second sort of trade revolution” according to the article) is the key. [...]

[...] “Lump together and like - The Economist, November 6th 2008, Development Economics, Fall 2008 Focusing on the Chinese example, this article emphasizes the controversial relationship between urbanization and growth in poor countries. Based on the World Development Report (from the World Bank), it presents the point of view of those who are willing to slow down the urbanization process, and the one of those who agree on its positive impact. More importantly, as the increase of the share of urban people is an undeniable fact, the article tries to define the policy that governments should adopt in order to make urbanization a consideration in economic development policy. [...]

[...] An enduring intervention We have demonstrated that the right policies are difficult to adopt. Yet, governments have a role to play in order to optimize the impact of urbanisation. Between 1971 and 1989, the UNDP (United Nation Development Program) furnished more than 232.8 million of dollars to finance its 483 projects to address urban issues in developing countries, and governments of those countries added 41 million dollars to contribute to the expenses. The main goals are to provide those cities with strong institutions and to strengthen the quality of the formation and equipments. [...]