Aspects of the rural-urban transformation of countries

Abstract

This paper models the rural-urban spatial transformation that occurs with urbanization, as driven by economic and population growth. This transformation involves the agglomeration of populations into cities, with increasing numbers of cities and increasing populations of individual cities. The paper focuses on the forces that drive this transformation, how this transformation proceeds, and what are the potential traps and inefficiencies are that may inhibit it. We also examine the issue of evolving spatial inequality under urbanization, between the rural and urban sectors and potentially within the urban sector distinguishing true inequality, from observed inequality in nominal incomes and wages