This article reviews the current state of the debate around the concept of ‘urban bias’. It first reviews Michael Lipton’s original formulation of an Urban Bias Thesis (UBT), and the initial debates that took shape in regard to his work and the work of Elliott Berg and Robert Bates. The main body of the article, however, considers a recent reworking of the UBT by Robert Eastwood and Michael Lipton, and four sets of objections that can be raised against it. Central to these objections are new accounts of the importance of mobility in constructing rural-urban livelihoods and claims emanating from the ‘new economic geography’ about the economic advantages of towns and cities. The article concludes with a short review of the implication of the continuing debate on ‘urban bias’ for public policy and Poverty Reduction Strategies.
Ansoms, A.
and
Maryse, S.2005: The evolution and characteristics of poverty and inequality in Rwanda: Coincidence of violence and structural constraints. In
Marysse, S.
and
Reyntjens F.
, editors, Political economy of the Great Lakes region of Africa: The pitfalls of enforced democracy and globalization.
Palgrave
.
2.
Arkadie, B. van
. 1978:
Review article: Town versus country
. Development and Change8,
409–15
.
3.
Arnott, R.
and
Gersovitz, M.1986:
Social welfare underpinnings of urban bias and unemployment
. Economic Journal96,
413–24
.
4.
Ashley, C.
and
Maxwell, S.2001:
Rethinking rural development
. Development Policy Review19,
395–425
.
5.
Barrett, C.B.1996:
Urban bias in price risk: The geography of food price distributions in low-income economies
. Journal of Development Studies32,
830–49
.
6.
Bates, R.H.1981: Markets and states in tropical Africa.
University of California Press
.
7.
Bates, R.H.1988: Toward a political economy of development.
University of California Press
.
8.
Braverman, A.
and
Kanbur, R.1987:
Urban bias and the political economy of agricultural reform
. World Development15,
1179–187
.
9.
Bryceson, D.2002:
The scramble in Africa: Reorienting rural livelihoods
. World Development30,
725–39
.
10.
Bryceson, D.2004:
Agrarian vista or vortex: African rural livelihood policies
. Review of African Political Economy102,
617–29
.
11.
Buckley, R.1996: Housing finance in developing countries.
Macmillan
.
12.
Byres, T.J.1979:
Of neopulist pipe dreams
. Journal of Peasant Studies6,
210–44
.
13.
Commission for Africa. 2005: Our common interest: Report of the Commission for Africa.
Penguin
.
14.
Commission on Growth and Development. 2008: The growth report: Strategies for sustained growth and inclusive development.
World Bank
.
15.
Corbridge, S.1982: Urban bias, rural bias and industrialization: An appraisal of the work of Michael Lipton and Terry Byres. In
J. Harriss
, editor, Rural development.
Hutchinson
, 94–116.
16.
Corbridge, S.
and
Kumar, S.2002:
Community, corruption, landscape: Tales from the tree trade
, Political Geography21,
765–88
.
17.
Corbridge, S.
,
Williams, G.
,
Srivastava, M.
and
Véron, R.2005: Seeing the state: Governance and governmentality in India.
Cambridge University Press
.
18.
Cruz, M.C.
and
Sánchez Medina, R.2003: Agriculture in the city: A key to sustainability in Havana, Cuba.
IDRC
.
19.
Dercon, S.
and
Hoddinott, J.2005: Livelihoods, growth and links to market towns in 15 Ethiopian villages. Discussion Paper 194,
IFPRI
.
20.
Deshingkar P.
and
Anderson, E.2004: People on the move: New policy challenges for increasingly mobile populations. Natural Resources Perspectives92. Overseas Development Institute Briefing Paper,
London
. http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/55.pdf
21.
Eastwood, R.
and
Lipton, M.2000:
Pro-poor growth and pro-growth poverty reduction: Meaning, evidence, and policy implications
. Asian Development Review18,
22–58
.
22.
Ellis, F.2000: Rural livelihoods and diversity in developing countries.
OUP
.
23.
Ellis, F.
and
Harris, N.2004: New thinking about urban and rural development (
mimeo
, prepared for
DfID
).
24.
Farrington, J.
,
Ramasut, T.
and
Walker, J.2002: Sustainable livelihoods approaches in urban areas: General lessons with illustrations from Indian cases (
mimeo
, report to
SIDA
).
25.
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2007: Profitability and sustainability of urban and peri-urban agriculture. Agricultural management, marketing and finance occasional paper 19.
FAO
.
26.
Gandhi, M.K.1997 (1908): Hind Swaraj [(Indian self-rule) published with an editorial introduction by Anthony Parel].
Cambridge University Press
.
27.
Gilbert, A.G.
and
Dávila, J.D.2002: Bogotá: Progress within a hostile environment. In
Myers, D.J.
and
Dietz, H.
, editors, Capital city politics in Latin America: Democratization and empowerment.
Lynne Reinner Publishers
.
28.
Griffin, K.1977:
Review of why poor people stay poor
. Journal of Development Studies14,
108–09
.
29.
Haddad, L.
,
Ruel, M.T.
and
Garrett, J.L.1999:
Are urban poverty and under-nutrition growing? Some newly assembled evidence
. World Development27: 1891–1904.
30.
Hall, A.2006:
From Fome Zero to Bolsa Familia: Social policies and poverty alleviation under Lula
. Journal of Latin American Studies38,
689–709
.
31.
Harris, J.
and
Todaro, M.1970:
Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis
. American Economic Review60,
126–42
.
32.
Henderson, V.2002:
Urbanization in developing countries
. World Bank Research Observer17,
89–112
.
33.
Henderson, V.2003:
The urbanization process and economic growth: The so-what question
. Journal of Economic Growth8,
47–71
.
34.
Herbst J.2000: States and power in Africa.
Princeton University Press
.
35.
Jacobs, J.1969: The economy of cities.
Random House
.
36.
Karshenas, M.1996:
Dynamic economies and the critique of urban bias
. Journal of Peasant Studies24,
60–102
.
37.
Lipton, M.1977: Why poor people stay poor: A study of urban bias in world development.
Temple Smith
.
38.
Lipton, M.1984:
Urban bias revisited
. Journal of Development Studies20,
139–66
.
39.
Lipton, M.1989: Why poor people stay poor: Urban bias in world development.
Avebury
.
40.
Lipton, M.2001: Escaping poverty: The poor’s productive resource needs. Keynote address to Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020,
Bonn, Germany
.
41.
Lipton, M.2005: Urban bias. In
Forsyth, T.
, editor, Encyclopedia of international development.
Routledge
.
42.
Lipton, M.2009: Land reform in developing countries: property rights and property wrongs,
Routledge
.
43.
Majumdar, S.
,
Mani, A.
and
Mukand, S.W.2004:
Politics, information and the urban bias
. Journal of Development Economics75,
137–65
.
44.
Marcus, R.
,
Wilkinson, J.
and
Marshall, J.2002:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPS): Fulfilling their potential for children in poverty?Journal of International Development14,
1117–128
.
45.
Marx, K.
and
Engels, F.1998 (1848): The communist manifesto.
Penguin
.
46.
Mitlin, D.2004: Understanding urban poverty: What the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers tell us. Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas Series Working Paper 13.
London: IIED
.
47.
Molyneux, M.2007: Change and continuity in social protection in Latin America: Mothers at the service of the state? Gender and Development Paper 1,
Geneva: UNRISD
.
48.
Munzele Maimbo, S.
and
Ratha, D.
, editors. 2005: Remittances: Development impact and future prospects.
World Bank
.
49.
Overman, H.G.
and
Venables, A.G.2005: Cities in the developing world.
Mimeo, LSE: report for DfID
.
50.
Potts, D.2005:
Counter-urbanisation on the Zambian copperbelt? Interpretations and implications
. Urban Studies42,
583–609
.
51.
Potts, D.2006:
Rural mobility as a response to land shortages: the case of Malawi
. Population, Space Place12,
291–311
.
52.
Ravallion, M.2002:
On the urbanization of poverty
. Journal of Development Economics68,
435–42
.
53.
Richardson, H.W.1987:
The costs of urbanization: A four country comparison
. Economic Development and Cultural Change33,
561–80
.
54.
Sander, C.2003: Migrant remittances to developing countries: Overview and introduction to issues for pro-poor financial services. Report prepared for
DfID
.
55.
Satterthwaite, D.2004: The under-estimation of urban poverty in low and middle-income nations. IIED Poverty reduction in urban areas series working paper 14,
International Institute for Environment and Development, London
.
56.
Sen, A.K.2000: Development as freedom.
Basic Books
.
57.
Suryanarayana, M.H.1995:
Beyond implicit subsidy and urban bias: The Indian experience
. Food Policy20,
259–78
.
58.
Tacoli, C.2005: Changing urban-rural linkages in West Africa: Livelihood transformations and policy responses. In United Nations Human Settlements Programme, editor, Urban-rural approach to sustainable development.
UN-Habitat
.
59.
The Economist, 2008. ‘
A Harvest of Disgrace
’, 24 May, p.
46–48
.
60.
Thurlow, J. and Wobst, P. 2004: Operationalizing pro-poor growth: A country case study on Zambia, Unpublished Report to DfID and World Bank, London and Washington.
61.
Varshney, A.1995: Democracy, development and the countryside.
Cambridge University Press
.
62.
Venables, A.J.2005:
Spatial disparities in developing countries: Cities, regions and international trade
. Journal of Economic Geography5,
3–21
.
63.
World Bank. 1981: Accelerated development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
World Bank
.
64.
World Bank. 2000: Cities in transition.
World Bank
.
65.
World Bank. 2004: Agriculture and rural development’s contribution to pro-poor growth: An update.
World Bank
.
66.
World Bank. 2005a: Beyond the city: The rural contribution to development.
World Bank
.
67.
World Bank. 2005b: Agriculture, rural development, and pro-poor growth: Country experience in the post-reform era.
World Bank
.
68.
Wolford, W.2007:
Land reform in the time of neo-liberalism: A many-splendored thing
. Antipode39,
550–72
.
