Urban development

The process of urbanization in developing economies has resulted in cities with overcrowded squatter neighborhoods, haphazard industrial development, and a concentration of skilled workers drawn from the surrounding towns and villages. In Urban Development, ]. Vernon Henderson takes a detailed, analytical look at this process and shows how government policies, changing production patterns, and other economic and social forces define the role and nature of cities. Combining original empirical and
theoretical research, Henderson develops a general equilibrium model of an economy composed of a system of cities, towns, and an agricultural sector. This model allows for different sizes and types of cities, economic growth, development and technological change, international trade, and natural resource deposits; it identifies patterns of wages, prices, production, trade, investment, and residence. Using this paradigm, Urban Development compiles a set of facts and econometric conclusions about
production patterns and technology, the demographics of high-skilled and low-skilled workers, the determinants of urban
concentration in large versus small cities, and urban decentralization. Governmental economic policies-especially those of
Brazil, China, and India-also are examined to determine their impact on population movements and urban development;
such policies include import restrictions, minimum wage laws, price regulation,capital market restrictions, zoning, and
limits on cities' fiscal autonomy. Urban Development provides both detailed econometrics and theory as well as supplemental diagrams and exposition to yield an accessible, comprehensive, yet detailed study of the process of urbanization in less developed countries and the often unintended adverse effects on this process caused by government policies.