Managing urban growth in Lusaka,Zambia∗

The question of urban management is a key issue for policy makers in Africa. The objec‐tive in this paper is to analyse recent trends in the management of urban growth in Lu‐saka, Zambia. The Zambian urbanization experience is of a transition from constrained to unconstrained patterns of urbanization and of the imperative to dismantle the heritage of colonial policies. Lusaka's management performance with regard to the pro‐vision of shelter and services as well as work opportunities for an expanding population is investigated. It is argued that the experience of Lusaka underscores the urban management dilemmas of transcending the burden of past policies.     

Rural stratification,rural to urban migration,and urban inequality: Evidence from Iran

Recent findings on India have pointed to the importance of the rural caste structure to rural-urban migration and the creation of (partially) segmented urban labor markets. By considering cross-sectional evidence from Iran and by viewing differential access to land, instead of castes, as the determinant of the migrants' background, the implication of this view for the impact of migration on urban inequality is examined. It is found that where migrants are from a landless group urban inequality increases and where they are from a landed group it declines, ceteris paribus. Urban inequality is measured by the construction of an urban housing shares index from the census data.     

Migrants,urban poverty and the changing nature of urban–rural linkages in Kenya

In the literature on rural–urban linkages in sub-Saharan Africa the focus has so far been predominantly on the urban dwellers contributing to the livelihood of the rural ones, usually through remittances from family members living in the city. Although acknowledged in the last two decades, the reverse flow, i.e. the extent to which town dwellers realise part of their livelihood from rural sources, remains poorly understood. Based on recent research in Nakuru town, Kenya, this paper demonstrates that urban–rural linkages are not only important for the rural households, but are becoming an important element of the livelihood (or survival) strategies of poor urban households.     

Rank, income and income inequality in urban China

While some workers in China attain senior professional level and senior cadre level status (Chuzhang and above), others attain middle rank including middle rank of professional and cadre (Kezhang). This aspect of the Chinese labour force has attracted surprisingly little attention in the literature, a fact which this paper aims to rectify. We define various segments of the urban population in work-active ages and use data from the Chinese Income Project (CHIP) covering eastern, central and western China for 1995 and 2002. For 2002, persons of high rank make up 3% and persons of middle rank make up 14% of persons in work-active ages.Factors that affect a person's likelihood of having high or middle rank are investigated by estimating a multinomial probit model. We find that education, age and gender strongly affect the probability of being employed as a worker of high rank. There is relatively little income inequality among workers of high rank as well as among workers of middle rank. Mean income and household wealth per capita of highly-ranked workers developed more favorably than for other segments of the population studied, and personal income is more polarized by segment in 2002 than in 1995. Workers of high rank, and to a lesser degree, workers of middle rank, are among the winners in economic terms while the increasingly large category of non-workers is the losers. Rates of return to education have increased but income function analysis indicates that this provides only a partial explanation for the increased favorable income situation for workers of high and middle ranks.     

Residual wage inequality in urban China, 1995–2007

We use three waves of urban household survey from 1995 to 2007 to investigate the trends of residual inequality and its determinants. First, we find that the enlargement in both the overall and residual inequality was larger at the upper half of the wage distributions between 2002 and 2007. Between 1995 and 2002, however, it is the lower half that experienced larger increase in inequality. Second, by using two complementary semi-parametric methods, we find that composition effect is negligible. Instead, the change in skill prices plays a dominant role in the rise of residual inequality. Finally, by constructing a panel data at the city level, we find that ownership restructuring is an important factor that has caused the skill price to rise, especially in the earlier period. Another finding is that China's export share of GDP has a positive effect on the enlargement of residual wage inequality, especially in the period from 2002 to 2007.     

Bequest motive,household portfolio choice,and wealth inequality in urban China

This paper studies the role of bequest motives in household portfolio choices and wealth inequality using a computable incomplete-market life-cycle model with precautionary saving motives, accidental bequests and voluntary bequests. Calibrating the model to match the main features of household finance in China Household Finance Survey, we quantitatively measure the effect of voluntary bequest motives on the household portfolio choices and the wealth distribution in urban China. Our results indicate the importance of bequest motives in shaping the Chinese household portfolio choices and wealth inequality, and have the policy implication on the implementation of inheritance taxes to alleviate the wealth concentration and to promote household consumption in contemporary China.     

Retirement policy,employment status,and gender pay gap in urban China

China’s current retirement policy has been in effect since 1978. The legal retirement age is 50 years for female workers, 55 years for female cadres, and 60 years for male cadres and workers; women can retire 5 or 10 years earlier than men. This difference in legal retirement age may affect wage growth in those approaching retirement. Based on China’s Urban Household Survey data set, this study investigated the influence of retirement age differences on the gender pay gap. From age 30 to 49 years, the wage difference between female workers and cadres increased by approximately 15 % more than that of men. After consideration of possible endogeneity problems and demonstration of the robustness of the regression results, the study determined that such differences were likely caused by gender and identity differences at retirement age. Among workers and cadres, the retirement age policy exacerbated gender differences in wages through working hours, wage rate, career promotion, and job change activity in those approaching retirement.     

Macroeconomic uncertainty,high-level innovation,and urban green development performance in China

This study incorporates macroeconomic uncertainty and high-level innovation into the framework of urban green development performance analysis. The positive impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on high-level innovation is related to the economic level and geographical location of cities. In developed cities and coastal cities, positive incentives for high-level innovation depicted by invention patents and green technology patents are generated, but the impacts are not significant in less developed cities. The negative impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on green development performance of developed and coastal cities is not significant, but it has a more obvious inhibition effect in less developed cities; raising the proportion of high-level innovation helps to weaken this negative impact.     

首尔，引领创意城建

随着经济全球化迅速发展，地区及城市作为重要的经济性单位开始崭露头角。同时，受快速发展的交通条件和IT技术影响，文化和服务贸易在全球逐步扩大。以创意性、知识资产、感性为基础的创意经济和创意产业也开始振兴。以创意产业为中心的城市开发“从主要依赖自然客体资源的发展转向着重开发人类主体资源，     

Health outcomes,health inequality and Mandarin proficiency in urban China

We examine the health returns to proficiency in Mandarin in urban China using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies. We find that greater proficiency in Mandarin improves self-reported health, mental health and capacity to perform activities of daily living. We also examine the relationship between Mandarin proficiency and health inequality and the decomposition results show that differences in Mandarin proficiency account for between 2% and 20% of health inequality in urban China, depending on the health indicator. Our results suggest that promoting ‘standard Mandarin’ can serve as a vehicle to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequality.     

Understanding urban poverty in two high-density suburbs of Harare,Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Urban communities are heterogeneous and averages mask inequities and deprivations among poor and rich urban communities. This article examines the situation of households residing in two low-income, high-density suburbs of Harare, Zimbabwe. The aim of the research was to contextualise urban poverty by looking at selected urban communities and vertically analysing the patterns and determinants of poverty. A household survey was administered to 1000 households and qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The study found high levels of income poverty and also found differences in poverty experiences between the two suburbs. The major proximate determinants of poverty were large family size; low education level of the household head; lack of income from permanent employment; low cash transfers; and short length of residence in the suburb. Increasing household income consumption can be addressed through scaling-up industries, which would result in more quality employment.     

大力发展都市农业,加速农业现代化进程——珠海发展都市农业探析

一、珠海发展都市农业的有利条件 1.市民有支付能力.据专家分析,当人均年收入在500～800美元时,人们外出观光旅游处于进发期,有着不可遏制的爆发力.1997年珠海市职工年平均工资12793元(折合约1505.05美元),广州、深圳、东莞、中山、顺德、番禺、南海等周边城市也相继迈入中等小康行列,早已超过上述标准.据旅游局调查一日游愿意承担100元以下的人占29.44%,愿意承担100～200元者占43.51%,200～300元者占14.11%,这可以满足定位于普通市民的观光休闲的都市农业项目的消费需要.     

The urban informal sector in Uruguay: Its internal structure,characteristics, and effects

The literature on Third World urbanization has focused increasingly on the informal sector as a mechanism to explain, first, the survival strategies of the poor excluded from regular employment and, second, the strategies of formal firms to bypass regulatory constraints and reduce costs. This paper pursues these lines of research in a special context, namely that of Uruguay, a small country which followed a protective labor policy for many years, but reversed it during the 1970s and early 1980s. Data come from a sample of 700 households in Montevideo, which are representative of the low-income neighborhoods that comprise approximately two-thirds of the city's population. Interviews were held in 1983–1984. The analysis focuses on the following issues: (1) the proportion of individuals and households who participate in the informal economy; (2) the types of informality that exist in both principal and secondary occupations; (3) the effects of informal employment on income; (4) differences in age, sex and education between different types of workers; (5) changes in informal employment over time. Implications of findings for general definitions and hypotheses about the informal sector are examined; the relationship of results to the neoliberal experiments attempted in Uruguay between 1973 and 1984 is discussed.     

Limited access to services for the urban poor in Windhoek,Namibia

The majority of the population living in the informal settlements of Windhoek, Namibia, have limited access to public municipal services. This paper integrates results from a sample of 97 randomly selected households, interviews with experts and community leaders and review of literature to describe and analyse the relationship between land tenure and municipal services in the informal settlements. Findings from our study show that formalised land tenure is a condition for households to access municipal services privately. However, 85% of the sample of the households in the informal settlements do not own land under current land tenure policy. Further, the need for communities ‘to own land’ seemed more immediate and pressing compared to water access, which is seen as a way to govern themselves towards raising funds for land acquisition. But lack of land ownership remains a constraint.     

Three stokvel clubs in the urban black township of KwaNdangezi,Natal

Academic studies have neglected the financial aspect of the informal economy. This article examines saving among the poor and their savings institutions (stokvels). The black community is disadvantaged in the financial market by having limited access to formal sources of finance. Stokvels are important in filling this gap. A planning priority for South Africa is adequate financial provision for all its people. In financing the reconstruction of the economy, policies for enhancing savings and redirecting them into investment will prove crucial.     

Hukou status,housing tenure choice and wealth accumulation in urban China

In Chinese cities, migrants with rural hukou, compared to residents with local urban hukou, face more uncertainty, have limited access to mortgage finance, and are less eligible for low-cost housing. A simple model demonstrates that for these reasons, rural-to-urban migrants are less likely to own housing units in cities and as a result accumulate less wealth. Our empirical analysis examines a nationally representative household survey from 2013 and uses mother's hukou status as an instrumental variable. We find that household heads with rural hukou are about 20 percentage points less likely to own housing units in cities than comparable household heads with local urban hukou. Consequently, the average household head with a rural hukou owns 315 thousand yuan less housing wealth and 226 thousand yuan less total wealth than comparable household heads with local urban hukou. The average household head with a rural hukou has 288 thousand yuan less in housing capital gains than comparable household heads with local urban hukou. Moreover, we find that these differences are much larger in the first- and second-tier cities, cities with more stringent hukou regulations, and among younger cohorts.