Maximizing the Potential or Urban Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean
on November 13, 2023
Over the last six decades, Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced a wave of migration to urban areas that has boosted the percentage of people living in cities from around 50% of the population in 1960 to more than 80% today. […]
Climate Change, Migration and the Urban Housing and Labor Markets
on March 16, 2023
Between 1991 and 2010, millions of Brazilians migrated from rural to urban areas, many of them because of the effect of increasing drought brought on by climate change. This migration has had effects not only on wages and employment, but also on the closely-related urban housing market. […]
Gender Bias and the Electoral Incentives of Female Politicians
on November 29, 2022
Researchers have documented that female leaders tend to make different policy decisions than male leaders, especially in developing countries. They have been shown, for instance, to be less prone to corruption than men and to invest more in certain public goods, like health and education. But less is known about why female leaders make different choices. […]
What Can City Governments in Latin America Do to Improve Public Health?
on August 25, 2022
The place where somebody lives matters for their physical well-being. Even within the same country, residents of different cities can have on average better or worse health, partly due to policies their city governments have adopted […]
Why has COVID-19 Affected Some Cities More Than Others?
on December 8, 2021
As we approach the two-years mark since the onset of COVID-19, countries around the world continue to struggle with the health and economic effects of the pandemic, many facing their third, and even their fourth wave of infections. However, within each country, not all areas have been affected with the same intensity […]
What Drives Rural Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean?
on November 23, 2021
The story of migration in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 20th and early 21st century is one of a mass exodus from rural areas to cities. Less than half of the population in the region lived in the cities in 1960. By 2016 that had soared above 80% […]
How Residential Segregation Fuels Inequality, and What Can Be Done About It
on February 4, 2021
The widespread inequalities of economic opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean are a major concern for policymakers throughout the region. These inequalities are, in no small part, spatial. Where you live and where you work matters—often substantially—for your opportunities in life […]
The Young Fare Better with Covid-19. But in Latin America the Reality Is More Nuanced
on December 15, 2020
The risk of dying from Covid-19 is significantly lower for young and middle-aged adults than for the elderly. The fact that Latin America’s population is younger relative to high-income regions would suggest that age-based prioritization of vaccine delivery, targeted confinement, and other […]
Where is Latin America and the Caribbean on the COVID-19 Curve?
on April 29, 2020
As the first wave of COVID-19 infections advances across the globe, more data becomes available that can help us better understand where we are, how we arrived here, and what may be on the horizon. This blog post explores what widely available data can tell us about how the much-cited curve of […]
Big Data: New Opportunities and Challenges for Urban Research
on March 23, 2020
Fifteen years ago, researchers were restricted to using surveys, censuses and basic administrative data when they examined cities and local policies. But those methods have real limitations. Surveys can be prohibitively expensive. Censuses may be out of date and administrative data often fail to […]
Migration Can Shape Local Development Policies in Unexpected Ways
on April 11, 2019
When Brazil’s government decided in 1967 to create a free trade zone in Manaus, it had glittering visions of Amazonian development. Located at the meeting point of two tributaries of the Amazon river, the so-called “City of the Forest” had fallen on hard times since the end of the rubber boom […]
Who Benefits from Job Creation in Cities?
on February 12, 2019
When it comes to urban economic development, everything is a question of tradeoffs. There are, as economists like to say, “no free lunches.” Consider California. The astronomical wages paid by firms like Google, Apple and other digital firms draw thousands of people to the Silicon Valley/San […]
on June 13, 2018
By the year 2100, the planet will have, according to forecasts, twice as many people living in cities as it does today. The lion’s share of this transformation will take place in the developing world, where the urban population could go from 2.6 billion to close to 8 billion in less than a century. […]
