Successful urbanization could free developing countries from the middle-income trap

Summary: Scores of countries have fallen and are falling into the middle-income trap as they strive to develop. And, because of income inequality, aging populations, and a lack of growth impetus, some may never escape. Of the world’s 199 countries and semi-sovereign economies, 88 are stuck in the middle-income trap: 20 are in Europe, 18 in North America, 16 in Asia, 15 in Africa, 11 in South America, and 8 in Oceania. Chen Wang of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Jiajun Lan of the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics at Xiamen University describe the challenges middle-income countries face. Read the transcript https://bit.ly/2AR7S0C Read the working paper https://www.adb.org/publications/inequality-aging-and-middle-income-trap About the authors Chen Wang is an assistant professor at the School of Urban and Regional Science, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Jiajun Lan is a PhD candidate at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China. Know more about ADBI’s work https://bit.ly/2zwlL2i https://bit.ly/2B1ByVS