Mekdim Dereje Regassa

Germany

Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) in Berlin/ Großbeeren

Professor Joachim von Braun

Dr. Zaneta Kubik

• Markets and services
• Migration, mobility and urbanization
• Health

• Ethiopia

Empirical literature has long established that remoteness - defined broadly as disconnect of rural households from urban areas – has substantial adverse effect on welfare. Evidence shows that households living in remote areas are, in general, poorer, less productive, and susceptible to price risks. However, two important gaps – gaps related to the measurement of urban areas and the distance to it and gaps related to the transmission mechanism of urbanization to spatial welfare pattern - that remained in the literature motivate this study. To address these issues, we aim to improve existing measures of remoteness and use it to investigate the implications of proximity to different sized towns on household welfare.

Moreover, although several mechanisms through which remoteness translates into welfare are studied, there are important channels - channels particularly relevant to the current development stage of Ethiopia - that are not as adequately covered in empirical literature. In this thesis, we focus on two of these: multiple jobs holding and public service delivery. Theoretically, urbanization improves individuals’ access to quality job opportunities and (quality) public services but empirical studies that test these theories, especially in sub-Saharan African countries, are scant. As part of this thesis, we aim to bridge this gap and investigate whether and how proximity to urban areas of different size (and type) influences multiple jobs holding and public service delivery with data collected from rural Ethiopia

Doctoral Research funded by: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Rural-Urban Linkage and Household’s Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Professor Joachim von Braun

Dr. Zaneta Kubik