Thursday, April 17, 2014

17 April 2014: Spatial Distribution of Economic Activities and Commuting by Workers in Rural and Urban India

S. Chandrashekhar
IGIDR

Abstract:
Unlike migration, scant attention has been paid to the phenomenon of commuting by workers in developing countries. This paper fills this gap by using a nationally representative data set from India to analyze factors that affect the decision of workers to commute across rural and urban areas daily. Results suggest that regions with large peripheral urban areas or concentration of secondary sector jobs are more likely to have commuting workers. Regional rural and urban unemployment rates and rural-urban wage differentials are important push and pull factors in the decision to commute.

To show why commuting matters, the authors establish differences in monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE), food consumption patterns, and dietary diversity across three mutually exclusive types of households: where all members work in rural areas, at least one member commutes to urban areas, or at least one member has no fixed place of work. The paper finds that as compared to households with no commuters, households with rural-urban commuters have higher MPCE and dietary diversity; whereas households with no fixed place workers have lower MPCE and dietary diversity. The paper also establishes differences in the above mentioned indicators across households which differ by their primary source of income.

Date: April 17, 2014
Time: 12:30 P.M.

Venue:
2nd Floor Conference Room
The World Bank,
70 Lodi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Location:

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Note:
Please confirm your attendance by email to Shilpi Gupta (sgupta11@worldbank.org) by Wednesday, April 16th.

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