World Development Report 1984
World Development Report 1984
World Development Report 1984
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from rural to urban areas mainly reflects the proc- source of innovation, but only if opportunities<br />
ess of industrialization and the changes it brings in exist to exploit their ideas. Studies in Guatemala,<br />
the demand for labor. Certain conditions in rural Papua New Guinea, Peru, and Tanzania, for examareas-unequal<br />
land distribution, landlessness, ple, have shown that returning migrants can introagricultural<br />
mechanization, natural calamities, duce new crops and techniques. Other studies<br />
and, in the past, forced labor migrations-have have found that experience gained in modern facstrongly<br />
influenced population movements in tories is largely irrelevant to the needs of small<br />
many countries. But, by and large, people move to villages.<br />
towns and cities for higher incomes and better job<br />
opportunities. Redistribution policies<br />
For individual families, these attractions can be<br />
considerable. Once in the city, perhaps three out of Governments have employed many different<br />
four migrants make economic gains. A move from approaches to the task of slowing down ruralthe<br />
rural Northeast of Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, for urban migration, ranging from direct controls on<br />
example, can roughly triple the income of an population mobility to efforts to improve economic<br />
unskilled worker; the family income of a manual conditions in the countryside. Few of these polilaborer<br />
in Sao Paulo is almost five times that of a cies have achieved their demographic objectives,<br />
farm laborer in the Northeast. The higher cost of and their social and financial costs have been high.<br />
urban living may narrow rural-urban wage differ- Moreover, they have often been undermined by<br />
entials in real terms, but urban dwellers also gen- national policies in agriculture, industry, and forerally<br />
have much better access to basic public eign trade.<br />
services. To take one example, in rural areas of Direct controls on mobility have been most comsub-Saharan<br />
Africa only about 10 percent of the mon in centrally planned economies. China, for<br />
population has access to a safe water supply, com- example, has employed controls since the early<br />
pared with 66 percent of the urban population. 1950s in an attempt to stabilize its urban popula-<br />
Most studies conclude that migrants are assets to tion. These controls have taken the form of travel<br />
the urban economy. They are mostly between the permits and food ration cards that can be used<br />
ages of fifteen and twenty-nine and are better edu- only in specified areas; also, restrictions have been<br />
cated and more motivated than those who stay placed on labor recruitment in rural areas by urban<br />
behind in the countryside. Evidence from Brazil, industrial enterprises. In some cases large num-<br />
Colombia, Kenya, Korea, India, and Malaysia bers of city dwellers have been exhorted to move<br />
shows that migrants with long urban residence to the countryside. The "rustication" program, for<br />
compare favorably with urban-born people in instance, resettled some 10 to 15 million urban secterms<br />
of employment and income. A <strong>World</strong> Bank ondary school graduates in rural areas between<br />
study of Bogota, Colombia, found that migrants 1969 and 1973. Administrative measures have<br />
earned more than nonmigrants at all educational probably helped to slow urban population growth:<br />
levels. Overall, income and employment levels are the proportion of the population in urban areas<br />
more a function of age, sex, and education than of has changed only slightly over the past thirty<br />
whether a person has migrated or not. years. But the costs were high to individuals, and<br />
Evidence about the impact on rural areas of emi- the economy also suffered from misallocations of<br />
gration is mixed. Emigration seldom causes a drop labor.<br />
in farm output. In villages of East Kalimantan, Less stringent controls have been used in Indo-<br />
Indonesia, for instance, women have adjusted to nesia and in the Philippines. Starting in 1970,<br />
the departure of male emigrants by working migrants to Jakarta had to comply with an array of<br />
harder at rice and vegetable production. Other bureaucratic requirements, including cash<br />
reactions include shifts to less labor intensive crop- deposits and licenses for various business activiping<br />
patterns, increased use of wage labor, and ties, however informal. To limit the growth of<br />
agricultural mechanization. Manila, the city government in 1963 decided to<br />
Urban-rural remittances clearly benefit rural charge migrants a sizable fee to enter the public<br />
households. Village studies in India, Malawi, and school system; free education was available only to<br />
Thailand, however, show that net remittances- bona fide residents. In both cases, the controls<br />
migrants receive as well as send money-usually proved hard to enforce, gave rise to petty corrupaccount<br />
for only a small proportion of rural tion, and failed to slow urban growth significantly.<br />
incomes. Returning migrants can be an important A variant of such controls has been periodic expul-<br />
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