The Causes of Urban Primacy In the Developing World

1. The Causes of Urban Primacy In the Developing World Carolyn Fox and Michael DeLucia

2. Urban Primacy • Urban primacy indicates a city whose population is at least twice as large as that of the next largest city in a country

3. Characteristics of Primate Systems • Associated with urban primacy: income inequality, low levels of economic development, highly centralized administration, colonial status, population growth rate, and ethnic heterogeneity. • Associated with balanced urban systems: arable land area, maturity of the urban system, urban population, literacy rates, and the ratio of manufacturing employment to service employment.

4. Urban Economies of Scale • Specialization • Accumulation and sharing of trade secrets • Strong backward and forward linkages • To consumer markets • To suppliers and production inputs • Result: Self Reinforcing Cycle of Urbanization

5. Elasticity of Labor Supply • High fertility in developing countries  • Large rural populations  • Large potential industrial labor force. • When rural-urban migration increases faster than the changes in relative rural-urban wages, agglomeration and primacy result.

6. Transport Costs • Transport costs lessened in primate cities • Concentration of domestic demand • Public Infrastructure “hub effect” • New Firms incentivized to produce in primate city. • Transport costs relating to international trade direct the location of primate cities along coastlines and navigable rivers.

7. Government Favoritism of Primate Cities • Many primate cities are capital cities: • Superior public services • Greater infrastructure investment • Access to government permitting and licensing • Examples: Mexico City, Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul • Link between regime instability and urban primacy

8. Underpriced Concentration Costs in Megacities • Health costs, commuting costs, land costs • Concentration costs are underpriced in developing countries. • Individuals are thus incentivized to migrate to overcrowded cities. • Jakarta: no regulation of shallow wells and latrines

9. The Impact of Urban Primacy • Excessive concentration costs • Primate cities absorb resources at the expense of other regions. • Policy should be directed toward balanced urban growth.