Malthus living in a slum : urban concentration, infrastructures and economic grouwth

The link between urban concentration and economic growth at country level is not straightforward, as there are benefits as well as costs associated with urban concentration. Indeed, recent empirical evidence suggests different effects of urban concentration on growth depending on the level of development and the world region under analysis. This paper revisits the literature on urban concentration and economic growth to shed some light on these previous results. In particular, differences in the process of urbanisation, and in the quality of the urban environment itself, have been suggested as most likely defining the balance between benefits and costs from urban concentration, and are probably behind differences in the relationship between concentration and growth. However, empirical evidence in this regard remains very limited. The aim of the paper is to fill this gap by paying special and explicit attention to differences between world regions in terms of urban infrastructure, essentially access to basic urban services. The main contribution of the paper is to therefore provide empirical evidence on the role that the urban environment plays in the relationship between urban concentration and economic growth

Malthus living in a slum: Urban concentration, infrastructures and economic growth

Today more than half of the 7 billion inhabitants of the planet live in urban areas, with this share expected to keep rising. Whereas in developed countries urbanisation has been a long and slow process, in developing countries this process is now characterised by a really fast pace and a high degree of urban concentration, with urban population tending to concentrate in one or few large metropolitan areas of disproportionate size. While urbanisation has been long recognised as a fundamental element of the process of economic development, sustainable urbanisation has become one of the main and more pressing challenges for developing countries, where millions live lacking adequate access to basic services like electricity, clean water and sanitation. Building on previous evidence on urban concentration and economic growth, in this paper we analyse differentiated effects of urban concentration on national economic performance. In order to do so, we rely on panel data from 1960 to 2010 and perform several estimation techniques including System GMM and IV estimations (using rainfall data in the instrumentalisation strategy). We contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence on how different characteristics of the urban environment - in particular the quality of urban infrastructure - strongly determine the growth-enhancing benefits of urban concentration (something that previous studies on urban concentration and economic growth have not considered empirically). We analyse several measures of urban infrastructure and look at different world regions, taking a special focus on Sub-Saharan African countries, where find that urban concentration has been in most cases associated with lower growth due to significant deficiencies in terms of urban infrastructure

The distributional dimension of the resource curse : Commodity price shocks and income inequality

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICHow does high dependence on natural resources affect income inequality? Surprisingly little is known about the impact of dependence on primary goods on income distribution. Building on insights from the resource curse literature, this paper studies the relationship between income shocks through changes in commodity prices and income inequality in a panel of 80 countries from 1990 to 2016. We analyze differentiated effects of commodity price shocks depending on the type of commodity (labor vs. capital-intensive). We also study differences across world regions and explore potential mechanisms by looking at different types of inequality (pay-driven vs. capital-rents-driven). Results show that commodity price shocks have an impact on income inequality. However, this impact depends on the type of commodity and inequality

International migrations and urbanisation: 1960-2010

International migrations and urbanisation rates have seen a large increase in the last decades. Here we analyse the relationships between migrations and urbanisation by using a panel of ca 200 countries over the period 1960-2010. We describe the main global stylised facts on urbanisation and international migrations focusing on differences in these across world regions. We found that while there was a positive association between immigration and urbanisation, particularly in small and medium-sized cities, the association between emigration and urbanisation in developing countries was inverse. Both associations have become stronger over the few past decades, and our results highlight that international migration is an increasingly relevant and complementary dimension of the traditional rural-urban reallocation of workers which takes place during economic development

Agglomeration, Inequality and Economic Growth

Agglomeration and income inequality at country level can be both understood as concentration of physical and human capital in the process of economic development. As such, it seems pertinent to analyse their impact on economic growth considering both phenomena together. By estimating a dynamic panel specification at country level, this paper analyses how agglomeration and inequality (both their levels and their evolution) influence long-run economic growth. In line with previous findings, our results suggest that while high inequality levels are a limiting factor for long-run growth, agglomeration processes can be associated with economic growth, at least in countries at early stages of development. Moreover, we find that the growth-enhancing benefits from agglomeration processes depend not only on the country's level of development, but also on its initial income distribution (something, to the best of our knowledge, not considered before). In fact, probably suggesting a social dimension to congestion diseconomies, increasing agglomeration is associated with lower growth when income distribution is particularly unequal

Spatially blind policies? Analysing agglomeration economies and European Investment Bank funding in European neighbouring countries

Abstract Policies promoting development need to take into account the fact that globalisation has made space more rather than less important. To take full advantage of agglomeration economies that come with urban concentration, infrastructure plays a key role. For a long time development policies have focused on the provision of infrastructure. In this work, we analyse: first how urban concentration and infrastructure interact with each other for encouraging economic growth; and second whether policies promoting infrastructure have considered the spatial distribution of economic activity. As a case study, we focus on the European Investment Bank (EIB) projects financing infrastructures, for both the European Union and the EU neighbourhood. We perform panel data analysis considering different measures of infrastructure, and we also analyse the EIB projects. Our results suggest a relevant role of connectivity infrastructure (i.e. transport and communications) for agglomeration benefits to take place in European Neighbouring Policy countries. Our results also suggest that EIB funding in ENP countries ismostly country specific and displays no spatial dimension

Desempleo y crecimiento económico a largo plazo: el papel de la desigualdad de ingresos y la urbanización

Two of the most dramatic aspects of the current economic crisis are with no doubt the experience of high and persistent rates of unemployment and the accelerated pace at which inequalities increase. But high and persistent levels of unemployment and increasing inequality are more than a consequence of scarcer opportunities related to the crisis; they can also be negative determinants for subsequent long-run economic growth. In this work, we consider unemployment and income inequality, and interactions between both, as possible determinants of longrun growth by using cross-sectional international data. Our results suggest that: 1) while initial high unemployment rates do not seem to be statistically significant to explain long-run growth, they do have a negative and significant effect when interacting with increases in inequality. 2) When we differentiate based on levels of urbanization, increasing inequality harms growth in countries with high levels of urbanization, as well as in countries with low levels of urbanization in which there is high and persistent unemployment.Dos de los aspectos más dramáticos de la crisis económica actual son sin duda la experiencia de elevadas y persistentes tasas de desempleo y el ritmo acelerado al que las desigualdades aumentan. Sin embargo, niveles elevados y persistentes de desempleo y aumentos de la desigualdad son más que una consecuencia de oportunidades escasas relacionadas con la crisis; también pueden ser determinantes negativos para un crecimiento económico posterior a largo plazo. En este trabajo, utilizando datos internacionales de corte transversal, consideramos el desempleo y la desigualdad de ingresos, y las interacciones entre los dos, como posibles factores determinantes del crecimiento a largo plazo. Nuestros resultados sugieren que: 1) mientras altas tasas iniciales de desempleo no aparecen como estadísticamente significativas, sí tienen un efecto negativo y significativo cuando interactúan con aumentos en la desigualdad. 2) Cuando diferenciamos basándonos en niveles de urbanización, la desigualdad creciente perjudica el crecimiento tanto en países con altos niveles de urbanización, como en países con bajos niveles de urbanización donde hay desempleo alto y persistente

Les dimensions de l'actual crisi sistèmica : el capitalisme en curtcircuit?

La crisi del creixement global basat en les finances reflecteix l'esgotament de l'actual model d'acumulació caracteritzat per taxes de creixement baixes i decreixents quotes laborals, un sistema que s'ha mantingut per un consumisme excessiu mitjançant l'augment de l'endeutament, de les desigualtats i de l'exclusió social i l'esgotament accelerat dels recursos naturals. Des de finals del segle passat es pot trobar una crisi sistèmica multidimensional, que avui es manifesta més enllà de la crisi econòmica, en termes de crisi humana, ecològica i sociopolítica.La crisis del crecimiento global basado en las finanzas refleja el agotamiento del actual modelo de acumulación caracterizado por tasas de crecimiento bajas y decrecientes cuotas laborales, un sistema que se ha mantenido por un consumismo excesivo mediante el aumento del endeudamiento, de las desigualdades y de la exclusión social y el agotamiento acelerado de los recursos naturales. Desde finales del siglo pasado se puede encontrar una crisis sistémica multidimensional, que hoy se manifiesta más allá de la crisis económica, en términos de crisis humana, ecológica y sociopolítica.The crisis of global financial-led growth reflects evidence of exhaustion of the current model of accumulation, characterized by lower growth rates and decreasing labour shares. A system which so far has only been possible by means of excessive consumerism through increasing indebtedness, accelerated depletion of resources, growing income inequalities and social exclusion and unrest. Since the end of the last century, we can find and connect root signs of a multidimensional systemic crisis, which manifests itself today beyond the economic downturn in terms of human, ecological and socio-political crises

Urbanització sense desenvolupament

Quina és la relació entre la urbanització i el desenvolupament econòmic? Històricament, ambdós processos han anat de la mà; els països desenvolupats són ara per ara també els més urbanitzats. No obstant això, durant les últimes dècades, molts països en desenvolupament, especialment a l'Àfrica Subsahariana, han experimentat processos d'urbanització accelerada no necessàriament associats al desenvolupament econòmic. Pitjor encara, aquesta urbanització descontrolada, caracteritzada per mega-ciutats amb infraestructures deficients i milions de persones amuntegades en condicions de vida precàries, representa avui un dels principals reptes per al món en desenvolupament. I un factor determinant d'aquest fenomen d'urbanització sense desenvolupament és l'alt creixement poblacional que encara presenten molts països pobres.¿Cuál es la relación entre la urbanización y el desarrollo económico? Históricamente, ambos procesos han ido de la mano; los países desarrollados son hoy por hoy también los más urbanizados. Sin embargo, durante las últimas décadas, muchos países en desarrollo, especialmente en el África Sub-Sahariana, han experimentado procesos de urbanización acelerada no necesariamente asociados al desarrollo económico. Peor aún, esta urbanización descontrolada, caracterizada por mega-ciudades con infraestructuras deficientes y millones de personas hacinadas en condiciones de vida precarias, representa hoy uno de los principales desafíos para el mundo en desarrollo. Y un factor determinante de este fenómeno de urbanización sin desarrollo es el alto crecimiento poblacional que muchos países pobres aún presentan.What is the relationship between urbanization and economic development? Historically, both processes have gone hand in hand; developed countries are today also the most urbanized. However, during the last decades, many developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, have undergone accelerated urbanization processes not necessarily associated with economic development. Worse, this uncontrolled urbanization, characterized by mega-cities with poor infrastructure and millions of people overcrowded in precarious living conditions, today represents one of the main challenges for the developing world. And a determining factor in this phenomenon of urbanization without development is the high population growth that many poor countries still have

Do we follow the money? The drivers of migration across regions in the EU

Most immigration theories tend to highlight that migration follows wealth and economic dynamism, but is this also the case across regions in Europe? The aim of the paper is to investigate whether migrants in Europe indeed follow the money and to contrast this with a variety of potential alternative explanations, including the presence of migrants from a similar origin. The analysis is based on panel data estimations including 133 European regions over a time period of 17 years. Different lag structures have been employed in order to distinguish between short- and long-run effects. The results cast some doubt about the prominence of pecuniary factors as a determinant of cross regional migration in Europe, with little evidence to support the idea that migration follows economic dynamism. Network effects, human capital related-, and ‘territorially embedded’ innovation enhancing regional characteristics, by contrast, seem to play a much stronger role than hitherto considered