ABSTRACT
In his book 'Why Poor People Stay Poor' the author has argued that urban bias is the moving force behind needlessly slow and inequitable growth in contemporary developing countries. This claim is defended against three main criticisms: that the methods chosen to test it are not appropriate; that the evidence tendered is not relevant or sufficient; and that the rural-urban polarity is not clear-cut or does not represent the prime conflict within contemporary developing countries. The case for 'urban-rural' as the central dichotomy underlying Third World poverty therefore seems to be unrefuted, though still in great need of testing and refinement. Before linking it to the problem of class, people should ask whether dichotomies are needed at all. Briefly, whether resource-allocation (or relative pricing) is seen as urban-rural, urban-rurban-rural, or continuous from largest and densest settlement to smallest and sparsest, the impact of urban bias on equity, efficiency and growth need not be fundamentally altered.
