Urban-Rural Inequality in Living Standards in Africa

Sahn, David E.; Stifel, David

doi:10.1093/jae/12.4.564

Cited by 201 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Also, Ancharaz (2003) shows that higher urbanization shares increase the likelihood of trade policy reform, and moreover, see Sahn and Stifel (2003), the welfare level of the urban population is generally higher than that of the rural population in SSA, resulting in higher demand for imported manufacturing products. Finally, we also include dummies for intra-SSA and internal trade (α ssa , α own )…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Geography and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Bosker¹,

Garretsen²

2012

The World Bank Economic Review

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The physical or absolute geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is often blamed for its poor economic performance. A country's location however not only determines its absolute geography, it also pins down its relative position on the globe vis-à-vis other countries. This paper assesses the importance of relative geography, and access to foreign markets in particular, in explaining the substantial income differences between SSA countries. We base our empirical analysis on a new economic geography model. We first construct a measure of each SSA country's market access based on bilateral trade flows and then assess the relevance of market access for economic development. In doing so, we explicitly distinguish between the importance of access to other SSA markets and to the rest of world respectively. We find that market access, and notably intra-SSA market access, has a significant positive effect on GDP per capita. This indicates that improving SSA market access (e.g. by investing in intra-SSA infrastructure or through increased SSA integration) will have substantial positive effects on its future economic development. Terms of use: Documents inJEL Code: O10, O19, O55, F1.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Geography and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Bosker¹,

Garretsen²

2012

The World Bank Economic Review

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“…Although the RAI findings do not provide an indication of the conditions of rural roads and demographics characteristics of each country, they provide a comparative overview of rural accessibility in selected African countries. The above findings become extremely important in understanding socioeconomic conditions of rural communities since studies indicate that more than half of the population in Africa still resides in rural areas (Sahn and Stifel, 2003, Cohen, 2006and Beegle et al 2016). …”

Section: Overview Of Rural Roads In South Africamentioning

confidence: 93%

Assessing the conditions of rural road networks in South Africa using visual observations and field-based manual measurements: A case study of four rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal

Nkomo

Desai

Peerbhay³

2016

RSS

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The prioritization and improvement of rural road networks is important in developing countries in order to uplift the socioeconomic conditions experienced by communities. So far, limited information exists on the conditions of unpaved or gravels roads, particularly in rural areas and the associated implications to rural economies. The present study therefore used visual observations and field-based measurements to assess the physical, environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting Minor roads (R3), Collector roads (R4) and Local roads (R5) in four rural communities in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The function of these road classes is to provide access from homesteads to main roads that connect rural areas to towns. In this study, two classification methods were used to rate the severity and extent of each surface distress on each road class. Results indicate that there was more than one surface distresses identified and assessed on each road class within the selected communities. It was noted that all the road classes had moderate to severe surface distress, except for the R3 road class in Emazabekweni community, reflecting problems associated with poor drainage systems and maintenance. Visual observation and field-based methods are useful tools that can aid in identifying and assessing the physical conditions of unpaved roads, as well as possible environmental, physical and anthropogenic factors at interplay, especially in resource limited regions. This study recommended that road authorities should ensure that proper drainage systems should be well designed; constructed and maintained on all gravel roads in order to reduce surface deterioration associated with runoff.

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“…In Africa, Sahn and Stifel (2003) found that the population living below the poverty line is about 50% greater in rural areas than in urban areas. They attribute most of these differences to a skewed distribution of schools and health care facilities that favor urban centers.…”

Section: Fiscal Policy and Inequality: Cross-country Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Fiscal Policy and Spatial Inequality in Latin America and Beyond

Faguet

Shami

2008

SSRN Journal

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We study the theoretical and empirical links between fiscal policy and spatial inequality, with a non-exclusive focus on Latin American countries. We outline the two main dimensions of fiscal policy vis-à-vis economic inequality, and show how these can be used to analyze specific policy measures. We examine why fiscal policies so often fail to have the ameliorative effects that theory predicts on spatial inequality, and explore ways to make policy tools more effective. We explore the relation between fiscal policies and spatial inequalities in three case studies: Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Lastly, we examine the effects of decentralization on spatial inequality in Bolivia.

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Urban-Rural Inequality in Living Standards in Africa

Cited by 201 publications

References 17 publications

Economic Geography and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Economic Geography and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Assessing the conditions of rural road networks in South Africa using visual observations and field-based manual measurements: A case study of four rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal

Fiscal Policy and Spatial Inequality in Latin America and Beyond

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