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When thinking about poverty, the slums of the big cities in developing countries immediately come to mind. So it’s natural for people to think that urbanization causes or at lest exacerbates poverty. Many Third World governments try to stop urbanization and migration from rural areas to towns. But they are wrong.
Urbanization is of course on the rise. About half of the world’s population lives in cities: 3 billion, compared to 1.5 30 years ago.
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However, the World Bank, in its latest World Development Report, states that cities in the Third World grow so fast because they create economic opportunities and possibilities. Wages of people in cities are much higher than the wages of their unskilled rural compatriots.
Cities are created by trade and industry. Factories cluster together and create cities because they profit from a concentration of skills and from the infrastructure (housing, transport, ports etc.) that cities offer. Consumers also profit from the presence of different traders and service providers in a relatively small space that is a city. And, finally, businesses that specializes in services for businesses – banks, insurance … – cluster where their customers are.
So slums may be a ghastly sight, but we shouldn’t forget that the country side is often in a much worse albeit not so visible predicament.
Here’s a related post on overpopulation.
Thanks, another point worth noting.
Rampant population growth threatens our economy and quality of life. I’m not talking just about the obvious problems that we see in the news – growing dependence on foreign oil, carbon emissions, soaring commodity prices, environmental degradation, etc. I’m talking about the effect upon rising unemployment and poverty in America.
I should introduce myself. I am the author of a book titled “Five Short Blasts: A New Economic Theory Exposes The Fatal Flaw in Globalization and Its Consequences for America.” To make a long story short, my theory is that, as population density rises beyond some optimum level, per capita consumption of products begins to decline out of the need to conserve space. People who live in crowded conditions simply don’t have enough space to use and store many products. This declining per capita consumption, in the face of rising productivity (per capita output, which always rises), inevitably yields rising unemployment and poverty.
This theory has huge implications for U.S. policy toward population management. Our policies that encourage high rates of population growth are rooted in the belief of economists that population growth is a good thing, fueling economic growth. Through most of human history, the interests of the common good and business (corporations) were both well-served by continuing population growth. For the common good, we needed more workers to man our factories, producing the goods needed for a high standard of living. This population growth translated into sales volume growth for corporations. Both were happy.
But, once an optimum population density is breached, their interests diverge. It is in the best interest of the common good to stabilize the population, avoiding an erosion of our quality of life through high unemployment and poverty. However, it is still in the interest of corporations to fuel population growth because, even though per capita consumption goes into decline, total consumption still increases. We now find ourselves in the position of having corporations and economists influencing public policy in a direction that is not in the best interest of the common good.
The U.N. ranks the U.S. with eight third world countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China – as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050.
If you’re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, I invite you to visit my web site at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com where you can read the preface, join in my blog discussion and, of course, purchase the book if you like. (It’s also available at Amazon.com.)
Please forgive the somewhat spammish nature of the previous paragraph. I just don’t know how else to inject this new perspective into the overpopulation debate without drawing attention to the book that explains the theory.
Pete Murphy
Author, “Five Short Blasts”
A book that you wrote and are trying to sell….
I apologize for implying your post Spam if it isn’t but, as you acknowledge, it really can look like it and that your post mirrors (in copy and paste form) the same post you put on other blogs makes it seem more like an ad.
One can repeat their POV in different blogs but that is different from encouraging people to consider buying your book most of the times you post.
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Hello,
I strongly agree with Murphy. The thing is that government should re-organize economic growing centers in the different countries. The idea is not to get a full injected city infested with a lot of other problems such as illnesses, delinquency, etc.
Theres an interesant prospect country and it is Germany. In this country you will not find big and and gloomy cities, but little cities with life high standards all around the country.
So here are two harpsichords: in Asia they are having this over population problems cause of overpopulation; in America we are having the same problems but for a different reason called corruption. We have bad governments who are willing to control the population with low standards of life, etc.
Hasta pronto,
Where was that picture taken?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito
Hello Bastards
You all probobly live in a big house or cosy appartment! I bet you don’t care at all about what happens every day in the slums!
THINK ABOUT IT FOR ONCE!
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