India's Spatial Development
This note examines the recent spatial development of India. Services, and to a lesser extent manufacturing, are increasingly concentrating in high-density clusters. This stands in contrast with the United States, where in the last decades services...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/09/18310359/indias-spatial-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22615 |
| id |
okr-10986-22615 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
okr-10986-226152021-04-23T14:04:09Z India's Spatial Development Desmet, Klaus Ghani, Ejaz O'Connell, Stephen Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE ACCOUNTING CITIES CONFIDENCE DISTRICTS EMPLOYMENT HOUSEHOLDS INDUSTRIAL PARK INTERVENTIONS LARGE CITIES LAWS MEGA CITIES METROPOLITAN AREAS SERVICE CLUSTERS SERVICE SECTOR TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE UTILITIES This note examines the recent spatial development of India. Services, and to a lesser extent manufacturing, are increasingly concentrating in high-density clusters. This stands in contrast with the United States, where in the last decades services have tended to grow fastest in medium-density locations, such as Silicon Valley. Indias experience is not common to all fast-growing developing economies. The spatial growth pattern of China looks more similar to that of the United States than to that of India. What is preventing Indias medium-density cities from growing and taking full advantage of agglomeration forces? Future research should focus on identifying the barriers to growth in medium-density places. In the last two decades, the Indian economy has been growing at unprecedented rates, but that development has led to widening spatial disparities (Ghani 2010a). While some cities, such as Hyderabad, have become major high-tech hubs with world-class companies and real estate development reminiscent of Silicon Valley, many others remain mired in poverty and stagnation. Given the huge congestion in cities such as Mumbai or Kolkata, this seems to be a reasonable policy concern in the context of India. However, those cities also benefit from important agglomeration economies, so there is a need to analyze the trade-offs between the costs and benefits of economic density before articulating policy recommendations. Such an analysis should provide valuable insights into what types of spatial and regional policy interventions may be useful and effective. Compared to other countries at similar levels of development, Indias growth stems disproportionately from its burgeoning service sector (Ghani 2010b). The evidence of agglomeration in the U.S. service sector is in cities with densities of employment below 150 employees per square kilometer, while in India, evidence of agglomeration is found in cities with densities above this threshold. In other words, if the United States is used as the efficient benchmark, then 150 employees per square kilometer is the ideal density to take advantage of agglomeration economies. In India, however, these medium-density cities are the worst places. This suggests that the costs of congestion in India are either much smaller than in the United States, the agglomeration forces are much larger than in the United States, or that there are some frictions, policies, and a general lack of infrastructure in medium-density cities that prevent them from growing faster, therefore favoring concentration in high-density areas. 2015-09-14T21:15:30Z 2015-09-14T21:15:30Z 2013-09 Brief http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/09/18310359/indias-spatial-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22615 English en_US Economic premise;no. 124 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Brief South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE ACCOUNTING CITIES CONFIDENCE DISTRICTS EMPLOYMENT HOUSEHOLDS INDUSTRIAL PARK INTERVENTIONS LARGE CITIES LAWS MEGA CITIES METROPOLITAN AREAS SERVICE CLUSTERS SERVICE SECTOR TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE UTILITIES |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE ACCOUNTING CITIES CONFIDENCE DISTRICTS EMPLOYMENT HOUSEHOLDS INDUSTRIAL PARK INTERVENTIONS LARGE CITIES LAWS MEGA CITIES METROPOLITAN AREAS SERVICE CLUSTERS SERVICE SECTOR TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE UTILITIES Desmet, Klaus Ghani, Ejaz O'Connell, Stephen Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban India's Spatial Development |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Economic premise;no. 124 |
| description |
This note examines the recent spatial
development of India. Services, and to a lesser extent
manufacturing, are increasingly concentrating in
high-density clusters. This stands in contrast with the
United States, where in the last decades services have
tended to grow fastest in medium-density locations, such as
Silicon Valley. Indias experience is not common to all
fast-growing developing economies. The spatial growth
pattern of China looks more similar to that of the United
States than to that of India. What is preventing Indias
medium-density cities from growing and taking full advantage
of agglomeration forces? Future research should focus on
identifying the barriers to growth in medium-density places.
In the last two decades, the Indian economy has been growing
at unprecedented rates, but that development has led to
widening spatial disparities (Ghani 2010a). While some
cities, such as Hyderabad, have become major high-tech hubs
with world-class companies and real estate development
reminiscent of Silicon Valley, many others remain mired in
poverty and stagnation. Given the huge congestion in cities
such as Mumbai or Kolkata, this seems to be a reasonable
policy concern in the context of India. However, those
cities also benefit from important agglomeration economies,
so there is a need to analyze the trade-offs between the
costs and benefits of economic density before articulating
policy recommendations. Such an analysis should provide
valuable insights into what types of spatial and regional
policy interventions may be useful and effective. Compared
to other countries at similar levels of development, Indias
growth stems disproportionately from its burgeoning service
sector (Ghani 2010b). The evidence of agglomeration in the
U.S. service sector is in cities with densities of
employment below 150 employees per square kilometer, while
in India, evidence of agglomeration is found in cities with
densities above this threshold. In other words, if the
United States is used as the efficient benchmark, then 150
employees per square kilometer is the ideal density to take
advantage of agglomeration economies. In India, however,
these medium-density cities are the worst places. This
suggests that the costs of congestion in India are either
much smaller than in the United States, the agglomeration
forces are much larger than in the United States, or that
there are some frictions, policies, and a general lack of
infrastructure in medium-density cities that prevent them
from growing faster, therefore favoring concentration in
high-density areas. |
| format |
Brief |
| author |
Desmet, Klaus Ghani, Ejaz O'Connell, Stephen Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban |
| author_facet |
Desmet, Klaus Ghani, Ejaz O'Connell, Stephen Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban |
| author_sort |
Desmet, Klaus |
| title |
India's Spatial Development |
| title_short |
India's Spatial Development |
| title_full |
India's Spatial Development |
| title_fullStr |
India's Spatial Development |
| title_full_unstemmed |
India's Spatial Development |
| title_sort |
india's spatial development |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/09/18310359/indias-spatial-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22615 |
| _version_ |
1764451564516278272 |