El. knyga: Crossing the Divide: Rural to Urban Migration in Developing Countries

"The magnitudes, nature, causes, and consequences of population movements between rural and urban sectors of developing countries are examined. The prior literature is reviewed, proving limited in key dimensions. Evidence is presented from a new databaseencompassing nationally representative data on seventy-five developing countries. Several measures of migration propensities are derived for the separate countries. The situation in each country is documented, both in historical context and following thetime of enumeration. Rural-urban migrants enjoy major gains; those who do not move forego substantial, potential gains. Barriers to migrating are very real for disadvantaged groups. Migration among ethnolinguistic communities is a pervasive theme; the context in which each group lives is detailed. Upward mobility in incomes in towns is affirmed, and the departure of adults from rural homes raises living standards of the family left behind but consequent separation of married couples is endemic to particular societies. Reclassification of rural areas as urban is shown to be more important than net rural-urban moves in incremental urbanization and rural-urban moves are less permanent than normally portrayed. A contention of symmetry between rural-urban andurban-rural migration propensities is rejected and indications that these twin movements result in sorting of labor by skills is not supported. Moreover, step and onward migration are not as common as popularly claimed. Previously neglected topics studied include autonomous migration by women, child migration, and networks at origin. Policies to limit rural-urban migration are questioned, rather planning for managed urban growth is vital as climate change continues. Key words: Rural, urban, migration, development, literature, database, reclassification, sorting, policies"--


A comprehensive examination of the nature, causes, and consequences of internal migration in developing countries

Despite the key role of rural-urban migration in structural transformation and the persistence of lower living standards in the countryside, active policies to reduce, or even reverse, movement into towns are common in major developing regions. Climate change is shifting the calculus: the resulting erosion to agricultural opportunities, combined with increasing frequency of natural disasters, is already resulting in substantial population displacement, mostly internally and into towns in particular.

Crossing the Divide examines the nature, causes, and consequences of population movements between the rural and urban sectors of developing countries. Using nationally representative, micro-level data on individuals from seventy-five countries in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean over the course of several decades, Robert E.B. Lucas moves well beyond existing studies to provide the most comprehensive and definitive treatment of internal migration currently available. Lucas analyzes these data on a country-by-country basis, considering both rural-urban and urban-rural movements, to reassess conventional understandings and offer significant new findings on who moves and who stays, the economic incentives and barriers to moving, the role of social networks, return and onward migration, and the impact of migration on families, especially children.