Development aspects of migration in third world settings: a simulation, with implications for urbanization

A simulation of the interrelationships between development and migration in developing countries is presented. "Development is represented as the diffusion of demographic transition, employment opportunities, and formal and communication channels, which in turn affect informal communications and the overall economic base. The simulation falls within the genre of neoclassical development models, but, unlike many, explicitly explores the long-run aspects of landscape evolution." The results generally "conform with expectations hypothesized in earlier research, including phenomena such as polarization reversal, converging regional disparities, and low-level equilibrium traps at small remote places where continual resource drain thwarts the agglomeration economies necessary for sustained growth. [The authors] also find that the initial urban system configuration has little effect on the final configuration, and that only urban size diseconomies are likely to alter significantly the size, spatial distribution, and spatial characteristics of the urban system."