title: Urbanization and economic development: a bias toward large cities?
abstract: "We find that a nation's urban population percentage increases with GDP per capita; industrialization; export orientation; and possibly, foreign assistance. It decreases with the importance of agriculture.  Industrialization and agricultural importance have the same implications for the concentration of urban population in cities with 100,000+ population as for the urban percentage. Greater export orientation reduces such concentration. Finally, GDP per capita, population, and export orientation reduce primacy. Political factors, such as whether a country's largest city is also its capital, affect primacy. Our results do not seem to imply that developing-country urbanization today differs fundamentally from urbanization in the past."
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Moomaw
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Shatter
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D005843:Geography; D007221:Industry; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012106:Research; D012939:Social Planning; D014505:Urban Population; D014507:Urbanization
keywords: Agricultural Development; Comparative Studies; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Economic Development; Economic Factors; Geographic Factors; Gross National Product; Industrialization; Macroeconomic Factors; Population; Population Characteristics; Population Dynamics; Population Size--determinants; Production; Research Methodology; Rural Development; Spatial Distribution; Studies; Urban Population; Urban Spatial Distribution--determinants; Urbanization; World