ABSTRACT
Much of the migration literature of the past few decades paints a somewhat bleak picture of the role of rural-urban migration in determining poverty. Two lines of thought in particular stand out: the Harris-Todaro (1970) model of rural-urban migration and employment, and the urban bias thesis popularized by Michael Lipton (1977). Although neither assigns a leading role to migration as a poverty determinant, both see it as part of a larger problem of ineffi cient resource allocation between urban and rural areas.
