Why is the world becoming increasingly urban? The primary reason is economic development but economic development alone is inadequate for explaining urbanization in the Third World. Theoretical arguments and fragmentary empirical evidence suggest that in the underdeveloped regions of Asia and Latin America urbanization is caused by adverse rural conditions as well as by economic development. Data for 27 Asian and Latin American nations in 1960 and 1970 provide evidence that two rural conditions high agricultural density and plantation agriculture spur urbanization in underdeveloped regions independent of the effects of economic development and prior urbanization in these regions. (authors)
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Glenn Firebaugh (1979) studied this question.