Can urbanization improve household welfare? Evidence from Ethiopia

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.donorDepartment for International Development, United Kingdomen
cg.contributor.donorInternational Development Research Centreen
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionSub-saharan Africa
cg.creator.identifierKibrom Abay: 0000-0003-1451-2421
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.identifier.urlhttps://portal.pep-net.org/document/download/34632en
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
dc.contributor.authorAbay, Kibrom A.en
dc.contributor.authorTiberti, Lucaen
dc.contributor.authorMezgebo, Tsega G.en
dc.contributor.authorEndale, Meronen
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-22T12:18:18Zen
dc.date.available2024-05-22T12:18:18Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/143946
dc.titleCan urbanization improve household welfare? Evidence from Ethiopiaen
dcterms.abstractDespite evolving evidence that Africa is experiencing urbanization in a different way, empirical evaluations of the welfare implications of urban-development programs in Africa remain scant. We investigated the welfare implications of recent urbanization in rural areas and small towns in Ethiopia using household-level longitudinal data and satellite-based night-light intensity. Controlling for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity (across individuals and localities) and exploiting intertemporal and interspatial variation in satellite-based night-light intensity, we found that urbanization, as measured by night-light intensity, was associated with significant welfare improvement. In particular, we found that a one-unit increase in night-light intensity was associated with an improvement in household welfare of about 2%. Much of this was driven by the increase in labor-market participation in the non-farm sector, mainly salaried employment, induced by urbanization. Other potential impact pathways, such as an increase in consumer prices or migration explained little (if any) of the change in household welfare. Finally, our quantile and inequality analyses suggested that the observed urbanization had a negligible effect on the distribution of household welfare. Our results can inform public policy debates on the consequences and implications of urban expansion in Africa.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAbay, Kibrom A.; Tiberti, Luca; Mezgebo, Tsega G.; and Endale, Meron. 2020. Can urbanization improve household welfare? Evidence from Ethiopia. PEP Working Paper 2020-02. https://portal.pep-net.org/document/download/34632en
dcterms.isPartOfPEP Working Paperen
dcterms.issued2020-04-01
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherPartnership for Economic Policyen
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhy015en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2018.09.001en
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll5/id/7130en
dcterms.subjectlabour marketen
dcterms.subjecthouseholdsen
dcterms.subjectwelfareen
dcterms.subjecturbanizationen
dcterms.subjectcapacity developmenten
dcterms.subjectmigrationen
dcterms.subjectpovertyen
dcterms.subjectrural areasen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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