Why Do the Young and Educated in LDCs Concentrate in Large Cities? Evidence from Migration Data

Do the young and educated in LDCs have a greater preference to locate in big cities? If so, this may help to explain how cities spatially concentrate the educated and young, and why the rising share of these workers in many LDCs may contribute to city growth. This paper explores migration flows into and out of Egypt's three largest cities. We study whether the higher shares of such workers in cities arise because these workers perceive relatively greater benefits from living in cities, given relative urban/rural wage rates, or because the relative demand for these workers rises with city size. Copyright (c) The London School of Economics and Political Science 2005.