Showing papers by "Robert E. Lucas published in 1977"

Internal Migration and Economic Development: An Overview

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of population migration in promoting economic development through increased efficiency of resource allocation, with marginal comments on some aspects of distributional implications. The study is limited to observations on internal, rather than international migration and focuses primarily upon economies, in which factors of production are predominantly owned by the private sector. The economic theory of fertility suggests that the demand for children depends—among other things—on income, cost of child-rearing, and tastes. Rural-to-urban migration generally influences each of these. It was noted that the individualistic economy with seasonal rural labor generates lower income and greater leisure in rural, as compared to urban locations. If, then, children are superior goods in terms of money income, continued migration should tend to enhance population growth, ceteris paribus. Counterbalancing this is the fact that child-rearing is likely to be much less costly in rural locations, where the relative price of food is typically lower and children enter the work force at a younger age. Also, operating in the latter direction is the taste factor from migration creating a sex imbalance in the two sectors.