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Rural‐Urban Migration and Control Theory
Author(s) -
Osayimwese Iz.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
geographical analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1538-4632
pISSN - 0016-7363
DOI - 10.1111/j.1538-4632.1974.tb00504.x
Subject(s) - optimal control , unemployment , control (management) , simple (philosophy) , mathematical optimization , differential (mechanical device) , computer science , phenomenon , pontryagin's minimum principle , mathematical economics , mathematics , economics , economic growth , engineering , artificial intelligence , epistemology , philosophy , aerospace engineering
In a largely expository style, a typical rural‐urban migration problem where urban unemployment is a central issue is modelled as a problem in optimal control. Some of the shortcomings of the Todaro specification of the expectations phenomenon in rural‐urban migration are discussed and an alternative specification is presented. The resulting optimal control model is solved in two alternative ways. First, Pontryagin's maximum principle, in spite of all its limitations, is used to generate some of the qualitative properties of the model, and some standard results are formalized. Secondly, a simple differential equation approach is employed to depict some essential qualitative features of the optimal control problem. Finally, some of the limitations of the optimal control model are discussed.