Is Living in African Cities Expensive?

Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions...

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Main Authors:	Nakamura, Shohei, Harati, Rawaa, Lall, Somik V., Dikhanov, Yuri M., Hamadeh, Nada, Oliver, William Vigil, Rissanen, Marko Olavi, Yamanaka, Mizuki
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Taylor and Francis 2019
Subjects:	PURCHASING POWER PARITY PRICES URBANIZATION INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON PROJECT
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31546

id	okr-10986-31546
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-315462021-05-25T10:54:37Z Is Living in African Cities Expensive? Nakamura, Shohei Harati, Rawaa Lall, Somik V. Dikhanov, Yuri M. Hamadeh, Nada Oliver, William Vigil Rissanen, Marko Olavi Yamanaka, Mizuki PURCHASING POWER PARITY PRICES URBANIZATION INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON PROJECT Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the purpose of calculating official purchasing power parities. The approach of the paper is to readjust the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, using known price-level ratios between those areas. The results indicate that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are 25 to 28 percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Such high costs of living could constrain livelihood of low-income urban residents, as well as the development of Africa’s urban economies. 2019-04-15T18:36:55Z 2019-04-15T18:36:55Z 2019 Journal Article Applied Economics Letters 1350-4851 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31546 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Africa Sub-Saharan Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	PURCHASING POWER PARITY PRICES URBANIZATION INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON PROJECT
spellingShingle	PURCHASING POWER PARITY PRICES URBANIZATION INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON PROJECT Nakamura, Shohei Harati, Rawaa Lall, Somik V. Dikhanov, Yuri M. Hamadeh, Nada Oliver, William Vigil Rissanen, Marko Olavi Yamanaka, Mizuki Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
geographic_facet	Africa Sub-Saharan Africa
description	Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the purpose of calculating official purchasing power parities. The approach of the paper is to readjust the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, using known price-level ratios between those areas. The results indicate that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are 25 to 28 percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Such high costs of living could constrain livelihood of low-income urban residents, as well as the development of Africa’s urban economies.
format	Journal Article
author	Nakamura, Shohei Harati, Rawaa Lall, Somik V. Dikhanov, Yuri M. Hamadeh, Nada Oliver, William Vigil Rissanen, Marko Olavi Yamanaka, Mizuki
author_facet	Nakamura, Shohei Harati, Rawaa Lall, Somik V. Dikhanov, Yuri M. Hamadeh, Nada Oliver, William Vigil Rissanen, Marko Olavi Yamanaka, Mizuki
author_sort	Nakamura, Shohei
title	Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
title_short	Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
title_full	Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
title_fullStr	Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
title_full_unstemmed	Is Living in African Cities Expensive?
title_sort	is living in african cities expensive?
publisher	Taylor and Francis
publishDate	2019
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31546
_version_	1764474572419104768

Is Living in African Cities Expensive?

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