'Urban Bias', the Political Economy of Development and Urban Policies for Developing Countries

Abstract

Theories of urban overdevelopment and 'urban bias' have a long, but discontinuous history, dating from the 1920s when policy-makers in the former Soviet Union considered urban-rural sectoral balance in planned economic development. The idea of urban bias has had continuing relevance in macroeconomic and trade policies (especially in many developing countries) since the 1960s. Although theories of urban-rural economic balance and urban bias have fundamental significance for urban economic development, much of the relevance is either unacknowledged or misunderstood. However, it is appropriate to review the circumstances of the theory of urban bias from the perspective of the 1990s. The results of some modern research shed light on the outstanding issues from past controversies; in the context of developing countries, the World Bank and other leading policy-makers have been advocating a closer relationship between macroeconomic and urban policy development; and economic policies for structural adjustment have been indirectly removing some of the structures which supported the political economy of urban bias. Thus, even if urban bias and urban overdevelopment have some arcane elements in their history and their association with development economics, the subject has importance in post-1990 contexts. This article gives an exposition, an interpretation and a review of the relationships between urban bias, the political economy of development and urban processes and policies for developing countries.