Book Description

This volume brings together the late Vibhooti Shukla's writings on urbanization and economic development covering a vast canvas of interconnected issues. Her pioneering analysis with Indian data strongly indicates that the positive correlation between productivity and city sizes holds for India as well as for developed countries. In a well-knit framework, Dr Shukla addresses the problem of city size and the implications for industrial dispersal policies and the phenomenon of rural-urban migrations. She goes on to discuss the spatial dimension of rural non-farm employment, infrastructure investment and the government's role in these. It is her concern with policy issues which takes her to the subject of infrastructure investment, especially its spatial dimension. Dr Shukla demonstrates that better water supply, asphalt roads and increased drainage capacity can have a great impact on productivity. Her essays underline the fact that economic infrastructure is not enough. Social infrastructure, such as investment in health and education, not only creates a healthier, enlightened population but can result in higher industrial productivity.