Development economists have considered physical infrastructure to be a precondition for industrialization and economic development. Yet, two issues remain to be addressed in the literature. First, while proper identification of the causal effectiveness of infrastructure in reducing poverty is...

This study evaluates infrastructure investment and finance in Asia from a global perspective. It provides an overview on infrastructure needs and the various sources of private finance, globally and within Asia, and creates a "bigger picture" for the demand and supply of capital for...

Urbanization has both benefits and costs. In a market economy, the trade-off between benefits and costs determines the level, speed, and pace of urbanization. This paper summarizes research findings on how urbanization enhances productivity and economic growth in both rural and urban sectors,...

This study explores the relationship between inequality and structural transformation by constructing a theoretical model, developing analytical frameworks, and implementing a case study. The general equilibrium model we develop demonstrates that inequality exhibits an inverted U shape as...

The recent experience of infrastructure investment in the People's Republic of China (PRC) suggests an intertwined relationship between investment, urbanization, and economic growth. In one mechanism, urbanization generates demand for infrastructure investment, which then drives economic growth...

Developing countries have seen a rapid rise in population urbanization in the past decades. At the same time, they have participated actively in the process of globalization. However, possible interlinks between population urbanization and trade openness in developing economies have been ignored...

Research has not yet been undertaken on the optimal level of urbanization, notwithstanding the pioneering work of Au and Henderson (2006) on optimal urban concentration. This paper develops two-sector general equilibrium models of urbanization, with and without equity consideration,...

In this paper, we argue that urbanization has accelerated in the last few decades, and that this largely overlooked phenomenon cannot be explained by existing empirical models of urbanization. Consequently, we explicitly bring forward the role of information in driving urbanization, focusing on...

The process of transition from a low-income to a high-income country involves a structural transformation of the economy along with a change in the distribution of income and wealth in the economy. This study examines how this process of structural change impacts on inequality for a sample of...

This paper presents three approaches to the evaluation of cross-border transport infrastructure in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). First, it estimates benefit-cost ratios for selected segments of economic corridors. The results indicate differing degrees of economic viability among different...