Urban Inequality in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has experienced rapid economic development in the last three decades. During the same period, it has also experienced rapid growth in urban population (one of the fastest in the world), with average urban opulence rising faster than at the national level. There is clear evidence, however, that the poorer segment of the urban population has not always shared equitably in the fruits of economic growth. Inequality has widened in the distribution of household income and health outcomes but has narrowed in the distribution of educational opportunities. This chapter examines the processes underlying these diverse outcomes and argues for a stronger role of public action as a countervailing force against the inequalizing tendency of the market forces unleashed by the growth process. The paper demonstrates that where public action has been strong, inequality has narrowed, as in the case of education, and where public action has been weak, inequality has widened, as in the case of income and health.