Prof John Henderson CKK 4.31

This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Economic Geography, MSc in Environment and Development, MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc in Environmental Policy, Technology and Health (Environment and Development) (LSE and Peking University), MSc in Environmental Policy, Technology and Health (Environmental Economics and Climate Change) (LSE and Peking University), MSc in Geographic Data Science, MSc in Local Economic Development, MSc in Regional And Urban Planning Studies, MSc in Urban Policy (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in Urbanisation and Development. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

No specific LSE course requirements. At a minimum, students should have an analytical course in micro-economics (or equivalent) and a basic statistics or econometrics course. 

This MSc course will offer students the opportunity to learn some of the conceptual foundations and empirical regularities involved in studying why countries urbanise, the nature of structural and spatial transformation involved in the urbanisation process and the development of systems of cities. Complementing this will be a study of the internal spatial transformation of cities, the evolution of the location of production activities, the formation and role of slums, and the evolution of land market regulations and property right assignments. Critical to understanding these processes will be learning about the role of regulation and political processes, as well as policy initiatives, in shaping outcomes. The course will also examine the current process of urbanisation in Asia and Africa in the various special contexts of different regions and countries, drawing from lessons of the past as experienced in Latin America and parts of the developed world.

20 hours of lectures and 20 hours of seminars in the WT.

The first three weeks of seminars will involve a review of basic statistical methods to help prepare students for class and lecture material.

Students will be expected to produce 1 piece of coursework in the WT.

Duranton G. (2008), 'Viewpoint: From cities to productivity and growth in developing countries', Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 41, No. 3, 689-736

Henderson, J.V., T. Regan, and A. J. Venables (2021) “Building the city: urban transition and institutional frictions,” Review of Economic Studies

Donaldson D (2018) ‘Railways of the Raj’, American Economic Review 108, 899-934

Couture, V., B. Faber, Y. Gu, L. Liu, (2020)

Connecting the countryside via e-commerce: Evidence from China. American Economic Review: Insights

Baum-Snow, N., L. Brandt, V. Henderson, M. Turner, Q Zhang (2017) “Roads, Railroads and Decentralization of Chinese Cities” Review of Economics and Statistics

Muralidharan, K., & Prakash, N. (2017). Cycling to school: Increasing secondary school enrollment for girls in India. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9(3), 321-350.

Exam (70%, duration: 2 hours) in the spring exam period.
Presentation (30%) in the WT.