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Harris-Todaro models with a land market

Harris-Todaro models with a land market
Harris-Todaro models with a land market
This paper adds a land market to a standard Harris-Todaro framework. In the standard model, the equilibrating force that limits rural-urban migration is a decline in the probability of formal employment, which follows from enlargement of the informal sector. The key insight of the present paper, borrowed from Brueckner (1990) [Brueckner, J.K., 1990. Analyzing Third World urbanization: A model with empirical evidence. Economic Development and Cultural Change 38, 587–610], is that urban land-rent escalation provides an additional force that limits the extent of migration. The most striking implication of this modified model is that formal-sector growth may not lead to additional migration from rural areas. The reason is that, because of land-rent escalation, such growth may depress a migrant's expected utility despite the improved chance of obtaining a formal job. In the second part of the analysis, the efficiency-wage model is used to make wages and employment in the formal sector endogenous instead of fixed. While many comparative-static effects are ambiguous in this more-complex model, the role of the land market is basically unaffected.
harris-todaro, rural-urban migration, third world cities
0166-0462
317-339
Brueckner, Jan K.
c1f376cc-6fae-4e78-801d-6fe8f5f30235
Zenou, Yves
f7c3b72f-b6b6-4550-8b0f-00a127af082e
Brueckner, Jan K.
c1f376cc-6fae-4e78-801d-6fe8f5f30235
Zenou, Yves
f7c3b72f-b6b6-4550-8b0f-00a127af082e

Brueckner, Jan K. and Zenou, Yves (1999) Harris-Todaro models with a land market. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 29 (3), 317-339. (doi:10.1016/S0166-0462(98)00040-4).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper adds a land market to a standard Harris-Todaro framework. In the standard model, the equilibrating force that limits rural-urban migration is a decline in the probability of formal employment, which follows from enlargement of the informal sector. The key insight of the present paper, borrowed from Brueckner (1990) [Brueckner, J.K., 1990. Analyzing Third World urbanization: A model with empirical evidence. Economic Development and Cultural Change 38, 587–610], is that urban land-rent escalation provides an additional force that limits the extent of migration. The most striking implication of this modified model is that formal-sector growth may not lead to additional migration from rural areas. The reason is that, because of land-rent escalation, such growth may depress a migrant's expected utility despite the improved chance of obtaining a formal job. In the second part of the analysis, the efficiency-wage model is used to make wages and employment in the formal sector endogenous instead of fixed. While many comparative-static effects are ambiguous in this more-complex model, the role of the land market is basically unaffected.

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More information

Published date: 1999
Keywords: harris-todaro, rural-urban migration, third world cities

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 33076
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/33076
ISSN: 0166-0462
PURE UUID: 7ede747f-7c21-462b-93fc-42f631221af9

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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:41

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Contributors

Author: Jan K. Brueckner
Author: Yves Zenou

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