Poverty Reduction during the Rural-Urban Transformation : The Role of the Missing Middle

As countries develop, they restructure away from agriculture and urbanize. But structural transformation and urbanization patterns differ substantially, with some countries fostering migration out of agriculture into rural off farm activities and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Christiaensen, Luc, Todo, Yasuyuki
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE TERMS ACCESS TO INFORMATION AGGREGATE INCOME AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT AGRICULTURAL GROWTH AGRICULTURAL INCOMES AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AGRICULTURAL WAGES ANNUAL CHANGE ANNUAL GROWTH ANNUAL GROWTH RATE AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOME GROWTH BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES IN POVERTY CITIES COUNTRY CASE COUNTRY CHARACTERISTICS COUNTRY LEVEL COUNTRY SPECIFIC CURRENT POVERTY DECOMPOSABLE POVERTY DEPENDENT VARIABLE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING WORLD DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DEVELOPMENT REPORT DISTRIBUTION EFFECT DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGE DIVERSIFICATION DYNAMIC PANEL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC STUDIES ECONOMICS ECONOMICS LITERATURE ECONOMIES OF SCALE EMPIRICAL APPLICATION EMPIRICAL REGULARITIES EMPLOYMENT EQUATIONS EMPLOYMENT GENERATION ERROR TERM ERROR TERMS ESTIMATED COEFFICIENTS ESTIMATION METHOD ESTIMATION RESULTS ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES FARM ACTIVITIES FARM EMPLOYMENT FARM HOUSEHOLDS FARM WORK FARMERS FIXED EFFECTS FOOD POLICY FOOD SECURITY GDP PER CAPITA GINI COEFFICIENT GLOBAL POVERTY GROWTH EFFECT GROWTH ELASTICITY GROWTH PATTERN GROWTH PRO-POOR GROWTH PROCESS GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HEAD COUNT RATIO HEADCOUNT POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATIO HIGHER INEQUALITY HOUSING IMPACT ON POVERTY INCOME INCOME CONSTANT INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INEQUALITY INHABITANTS LAND INEQUALITY LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES NATIONAL POVERTY NONFARM INCOME PER CAPITA GROWTH POLICY IMPLICATIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR BENEFIT POOR LIVING POOR PEOPLE POPULATION SHARE POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY DATA POVERTY DECLINE POVERTY GAP POVERTY HEAD POVERTY INCIDENCE POVERTY LEVEL POVERTY LEVELS POVERTY LINE POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY OUTCOMES POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCING POVERTY REDUCTION PPP PRO-POOR PRO-POOR GROWTH PUBLIC INVESTMENT REDUCING POVERTY REDUCTION OF POVERTY REGIONAL DUMMIES REGIONAL GROWTH REGIONAL SCIENCE RELATIVE INCOMES RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL ECONOMY RURAL INCOME RURAL MIGRANTS RURAL PHENOMENON RURAL POOR RURAL POVERTY RURAL POVERTY REDUCTION RURAL RESIDENTS RURAL SERVICES RURAL TOWNS RURAL UNEMPLOYMENT RURAL VILLAGES SECTORAL COMPOSITION SIGNIFICANT EFFECT SKILLED LABOR SKILLED WORKERS SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION SPATIAL DYNAMICS STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION TOTAL POPULATION UNEMPLOYMENT RATES URBAN AREAS URBAN POOR URBAN POPULATION URBAN POVERTY URBANIZATION WORKFORCE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17714693/poverty-reduction-during-rural-urban-transformation-role-missing-middle http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15587

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Summary:	As countries develop, they restructure away from agriculture and urbanize. But structural transformation and urbanization patterns differ substantially, with some countries fostering migration out of agriculture into rural off farm activities and secondary towns, and others undergoing rapid agglomeration in mega cities. Using cross-country panel data for developing countries spanning 1980-2004, the analysis in this paper finds that migration out of agriculture into the missing middle (the rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns) yields more inclusive growth patterns and faster poverty reduction than agglomeration in mega cities. This suggests that patterns of urbanization deserve much more attention when striving for faster poverty reduction.

Poverty Reduction during the Rural-Urban Transformation : The Role of the Missing Middle

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