【Subject】Accelerating urbanization explained: the role of information
【Speaker】Professor Wan Guanghua, ABDI
【Time】10:00-11:30, Sept. 28, 2017
【Place】Meeting Room 202, Phoenix Building
【Host】Investment Department, School of Public Economics and Administration, SUFE
【Host Person】Professor Chen Jie, Investment Dept. Director
【Speaker Introduction】Professor Wan Guanghua researches on agricultural economics, applied econometrics, and regional development. He worked many years in oversea university like Sydney University, International Organization like the UN, multilateral finance institute like the Asia Bank, and famous think-tank like ADB institute. His think-tank reports Green Urbanization and Asia Poverty Miracle are influential. He published more than 10 books, more than 60 papers in SSCI and SCI magazines, 17 papers in Economic Research Journal, 3 papers in China Social Science, 5 papers in Management World, 6 papers in China Economic Quarterly. He received several academic awards including Zhang Peigang Development Economic Book Award. He is also editor or guest editor of more than 20 domestic economic journals. He took Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University School of Economic Management Director, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics President Assistant, Asia Bank Poverty and Income Distribution Research Team Leader, and ADB Institute Director. His key programs included the UN “China, India, South Africa, Brazil and world economic development” Program, Asia Bank “MDG Monitoring and Evaluation” Program, and China National Nature Science Foundation Major Program.
【Abstract】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 information and communication technology(ICT), especially the Internet. For this purpose, we develop a simple two-sector general equilibrium model, demonstrating the potential effect of information on the urbanization rate. The prediction from the theoretical model is then verified by cross-country regressions based on 1960-2013 data from 109 non-OECD countries. Both fixed effects and IV-fixed effect results show that: (1) information is important in explaining the acceleration of urbanization; (2) the conventional push-pull factors become weak as the urbanization drivers; and (3) the results are robust to different regions, different information proxies, and urbanization quantiles.