Douglas Gollin (Oxford ODID)

 "Measuring Living Standards across Space in the Developing World” (with Martina Kirchberger and David Lagakos)

Abstract:  This paper shows that basic living standards in Africa vary continuously and increase almost always monotonically across population density. This finding sheds light on previous findings of rural-urban differences; we find that this gap in living standards is more general and continuous in population density. But while there are compelling reasons why individuals might not move from the most rural to the most densely populated locations, our results suggest that individuals may be able to improve their welfare by moving within their country to a marginally more densely populated area. One reason this might not happen is the presence of compensating differentials for rural residents. We do not find much evidence of such differentials. We conclude that theories of migration ought to address the striking empirical regularities that we identify.