Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 8 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5864, pp. 772 - 775
DOI: 10.1126/science.1153057
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Urbanization and the Wealth of Nations

David E. Bloom,* David Canning, Günther Fink

The proportion of a country's population living in urban areas is highly correlated with its level of income. Urban areas offer economies of scale and richer market structures, and there is strong evidence that workers in urban areas are individually more productive, and earn more, than rural workers. However, rapid urbanization is also associated with crowding, environmental degradation, and other impediments to productivity. Overall, we find no evidence that the level of urbanization affects the rate of economic growth. Our findings weaken the rationale for either encouraging or discouraging urbanization as part of a strategy for economic growth.

Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dbloom{at}hsph.harvard.edu

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)