Informality in the City: A Theoretical Analysis

Looking for theoretical guidance in the urban economics literature when analyzing problems of cities with large informality rates can be quite challenging. Most models have been designed for urban realities where there is no informal employment or informal housing, both of which are hard to ignore in cities in emerging and developing countries. The outstanding doctoral thesis of Héctor Mauricio Posada explores innovative ways in which informality can be incorporated into existing theoretical urban models to study questions related to urban expansion, transport provision and migration, among others. The thesis leads to many interesting insights that serve as basis for much needed future theoretical work, and identifies relevant connections that can be translated into empirically testable predictions.