Urban Development: Theory, Fact, and Illusion

This in-depth study of the economics of urbanization and development explores the key characteristics of urban-rural patterns of production and consumption in developing countries—particularly Brazil, China and India—as well as government policies affecting urbanization, showing how policies often inadvertently create overcrowded industrial neighborhoods and squatter settlements. Drawing on a wealth of theoretical and empirical research, Henderson investigates rural-urban migration, changes in the production patterns in cities, the drain of skilled workers from small towns, individual city restrictions on growth and entry, and other phenomena.