Reproducibility package for Economics Of Vertical Growth Of Slums: Floors, Rents And Vertical Sorting In Mumbai
Overview
In response to rising population densities in land-scarce developing country cities, slum settlements are increasingly growing vertically. This paper is, to our knowledge, the first to study the determinants of slum building heights and estimate its relationship with rents. Using satellite-derived building heights for Mumbai's slums, we first show that informal building heights display a bid-rent gradient as height falls with distance from the city's main business districts and rises with residential land values. We then ask how height is priced within a building. We conduct a survey of tenant households across slum buildings experiencing high vertical growth and show that rents fall by 3.2--3.4% for every additional floor. We test for mechanisms that explain this penalty and find a statistically significant impact of recorded temperature, roof leakage perception, and roof material. We also find patterns of vertical sorting where poorer households are more likely to occupy upper floors, with each additional floor associated with a 0.21 lower household asset index.
Reproducibility Package
| Repository name | URI |
|---|---|
| Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Reproducibility
Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
• Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)
• Memory available: 32.0 GB
Run time: ~ 20 minutes
To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:
- Secure Access to Data: Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.
- Run the Package:
- Open the R project
vertical_slums_replication.Rproj, restore the environment by running renv::restore() and following the prompts. - Open the
main.Rand run the code. - Update the working directory in line 15 of the do-file
00_master.do, and run it
- Open the R project
Since not all the data is included, the package includes the results produced by replicators. These files can be used to review the results presented in the paper.
Data
The reproducibility package relies on 3 types of data: open, limited-access, and restricted data (available only from the data owners). For the source, access type, file location, and citation of each dataset, refer to the Datasets section and the README file.
Description
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Geetika Nagpal | World Bank | gnagpal@worldbank.org |
| Sahil Gandhi | University of Manchester | sahil.gandhi@manchester.ac.uk |
| Vaidehi Tandel | University of Manchester | vaidehi.tandel@manchester.ac.uk |
2026-10-23
Scope and coverage
| Location | Code |
|---|---|
| India | IND |
Disclaimer
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
Access and rights
| Name | URI |
|---|---|
| MIT License | https://opensource.org/license/mit |
| World Bank IGO Rider | https://github.com/worldbank/metadata-editor/blob/main/WB-IGO-RIDER.md |
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Geetika Nagpal | World Bank | gnagpal@worldbank.org |
| Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Information on metadata
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility WBG | DECDI | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
2026-10-23
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