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.