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About
J. Vernon Henderson joined the London School of Economics in September 2013 as School Professor of Economic Geography, having previously been Eastman Professor of Political Economy at Brown University, USA.
His research focuses on urbanization in developing countries, looking both within and across cities and regions. His current research looks at topics such as the evolution of the urban system in sub-Saharan Africa; factor market distortions, city size and welfare in China; spatial equilibrium models; the dynamics of investment in the built environment in cities, how colonial legacy affects sprawl and the spatial layout of cities; the link between ethno-linguistic diversity and urban concentration worldwide; and the role of geography and history in economic development.
His recent work is published in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Science and Journal of Development Economics. He has been a co-editor of the Journal of Urban Economics and the Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, and serves on a number of editorial boards. He is a founder and past President of the Urban Economics Association.
Over the years, he has worked with governments in Asia and Africa directly or indirectly through institutions such as the World Bank and DFIDic on formulating urban policies
Research interests
- Economic geography
- Regional economics
- Spatial and economic development
- Urban economics
- Urbanisation
Asia; China
Africa governmental decentralization index
Word document
Excel document
Africa property rights index
PDF document
Excel document
World cities population data set, 1960-2000
Excel document
Word document (documentation for world cities data)
Word document (cities and countries dropped in analysis)
Podcast "What is about economy?": Vernon Henderson on the challenges of Ukraine’s recovery. Listen here.
The Way Forward Coalition, Washington, DC. Watch here.
Lectures on urban Economics. Watch here.
Urban age. Building productive cities. Listen here.
The political economy of local factor market distortions in China. Watch here.
"Accelerating urban economic growth in Ukraine" Henderson (with R. Green, M. Kahn, A. Nikolsko-Rzhevskyyc and A. Parkhomenkoa. In Rebuilding Ukraine: Principles and policies (eds: Yuriy Gorodnichenko Ilona Sologoub Beatrice Weder di Mauro) CEPR 2021
Podcast "What is about economy?": Vernon Henderson on the challenges of Ukraine’s recovery. Listen here.
Economics of Greenfield Urban Planning. J. Vernon Henderson, Francisco Libano-Monteiro, Martina Manara, Guy Michaels, Tanner Regan. October 2025.
The Urban Hierarchy in Africa: Competition and Complementarity. J. Vernon Henderson, Cong Peng, Yang Song, Anthony J. Venables. September 2025.