Reproducibility package for South Africa's Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden Of Labor Market Frictions

2025

Get Reproducibility Package

Reference ID

RR_ZAF_2025_490

Author(s)

Javier E. Baez, Varun Kshirsagar

Collections

World Bank Policy Research Working Papers

Metadata

JSON

Created on

Dec 19, 2025

Last modified

Jan 07, 2026

Overview

Abstract

Using high-resolution administrative, census, and satellite data, we show that South African cities are characterized by spatial mismatches between where people live and where jobs are located, relative to 20 global peers. Areas within 5 km of commercial centers have 9,300 fewer residents per square km than expected, 60% below the global median. Poor, dense neighborhoods are most affected. In Johannesburg, a 10-percentile increase in distance from business hubs corresponds to a 3.3-percentile drop in asset wealth (a proxy of household wellbeing) and 4.0 percentile drop in employment. In Cape Town, the declines are 2.6 and 2.3 percentiles, respectively. Employment is 87% lower in the poorest decile than the richest in Johannesburg, and 61% lower in Cape Town. These findings suggest that South Africa’s spatial organization of people and economic activity constrains agglomeration and reinforces inequality.

Reproducibility Package

Scripts

Readme Get Reproducibility Package

Link: https://reproducibility.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/424/download/1207/README.pdf

Reproducibility package for South Africa's Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden Of Labor Market Frictions

File name

RR_ZAF_2025_490

Zip package

RR_ZAF_2025_490.zip

Title

Reproducibility package for South Africa's Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden Of Labor Market Frictions

Date

2025-11

Dependencies

R dependencies are listed in the file renv.lock. Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder.

Instructions

See README in reproducibility package.

Notes

Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.

Source code repository

Repository name	URI
Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)	https://reproducibility.worldbank.org

Software

Name

Version

4.5.1

Stata

Name

Stata

Version

18 MP

Reproducibility

Technology environment

Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
• OS: Windows 10 Enterprise, version 22H2
• Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6132 CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.60 GHz (2 processors)
• Memory available: 128 GB

Technology requirements

Runtime: Approximately 3 hours

Reproduction instructions

To reproduce the findings in this study, please follow the steps below:

Acquire the limited-access data and place all required files in the /Data folder. Please see the README file for detailed instructions on data access.
Open the R project Reproducibility package.Rproj and run the following scripts in order:
- Code/Master/run_all1.R
- Stata_Master.do (run in Stata)
- Code/Master/run_all2.R
Outputs will be generated in the /Results and /Graphs folders.

Data

Datasets

South Africa Census (2011)

Name

South Africa Census (2011)

Note

Source: Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)

Access policy

Data access requires human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.

Citation

Statistics South Africa. 2011. South Africa Census 2011 [dataset]. Accessed in 2023. https://superweb.statssa.gov.za/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml

South Africa Spatial Tax Data

Name

South Africa Spatial Tax Data

Note

Source: Explore Tax Data – Spatial Economic Activity Data, South Africa.

Access policy

Data access requires human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.

Data URL

https://exploretaxdata.org/

Citation

Explore Tax Data. n.d. South Africa Spatial Tax Data, South Africa [dataset]. Accessed in 2024. https://exploretaxdata.org/

Google Open Buildings data

Name

Google Open Buildings data

Note

Source: Google Research – Open Buildings Users must go to the URL below, open the download page, and follow the instructions under “Download all data” to access the data.

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-4.0) license

License URL

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Data URL

https://sites.research.google/gr/open-buildings/

Citation

Google Research. n.d. Open Buildings [dataset]. Accessed in 2025. https://sites.research.google/open-buildings/

Origin–Destination Matrices data

Name

Origin–Destination Matrices data

Note

Source: Source: Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM)

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Open Data Commons Open Database License

License URL

https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/

Data URL

http://project-osrm.org/

Citation

Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM). n.d. Origin–Destination Matrices [dataset]. Accessed in 2025. http://project-osrm.org/

OpenStreetMap South Africa

Name

OpenStreetMap South Africa

Note

Source: OpenStreetMap Users must download the shapefiles from the URL below and place them in the correct folder, as described in the README.

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL)

License URL

https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/

Data URL

https://download.geofabrik.de/africa/south-africa.html

Citation

OpenStreetMap contributors. n.d. OpenStreetMap data for South Africa [dataset]. Accessed in 2025. https://download.geofabrik.de/africa/south-africa.html

Global Human Settlement Layer data

Name

Global Human Settlement Layer data

Note

Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) Users must download the shapefiles from the URL below and place them in the correct folder, as described in the README.

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence

License URL

https://commission.europa.eu/legal-notice_en#copyright-notice

Data URL

https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_buV2023.php

Citation

Pesaresi M., Politis P. (2023): GHS-BUILT-V R2023A - GHS built-up volume grids derived from joint assessment of Sentinel2, Landsat, and global DEM data, multitemporal (1975-2030).European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/ab2f107a-03cd-47a3-85e5-139d8ec63283, doi:10.2905/AB2F107A-03CD-47A3-85E5-139D8EC63283

Population grid multitemporal (1975-2030) data

Name

Population grid multitemporal (1975-2030) data

Note

Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence

License URL

https://commission.europa.eu/legal-notice_en#copyright-notice

Data URL

https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_pop2023.php

Citation

Schiavina M., Freire S., Carioli A., MacManus K. (2023): GHS-POP R2023A - GHS population grid multitemporal (1975-2030).European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/2ff68a52-5b5b-4a22-8f40-c41da8332cfe, doi:10.2905/2FF68A52-5B5B-4A22-8F40-C41DA8332CFE

Night-Time Lights data

Name

Night-Time Lights data

Note

Source: Earth Observation Group

Access policy

Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license

License URL

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Data URL

https://eogdata.mines.edu/products/vnl/

Citation

Elvidge, C. D., K. Baugh, M. Zhizhin, F. C. Hsu, and T. Ghosh. 2017. VIIRS night-time lights. International Journal of Remote Sensing 38: 5860–5879.

Administrative Shape Files for South Africa

Name

Administrative Shape Files for South Africa

Note

Source: Global Administrative Areas (GADM)

Access policy

Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0

License URL

https://gadm.org/license.html

Data URL

https://gadm.org/data.html

Citation

Global Administrative Areas (GADM). . "Administrative Shape Files for South Africa [dataset]," 4.1, https://gadm.org/data.html, 2025

Data statement

Some data sources are limited-access and are not included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.

Description

Output

South Africa's Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden Of Labor Market Frictions

Type

Working Paper

Title

South Africa's Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden Of Labor Market Frictions

Description

Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)

Authors

Author	Affiliation	Email
Javier E. Baez	World Bank	jbaez@worldbank.org
Varun Kshirsagar	World Bank	vkshirsagar@worldbank.org

Date of production

2025-11-22

Scope and coverage

Geographic locations

Location	Code
South Africa	ZAF

Keywords

Poverty Spatial Inequality Local Labor Markets The Economics Of Cities

Topics

ID	Topic	Parent topic ID	Vocabulary
R14	Land Use Patterns	R1	Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
R23	Regional Migration • Regional Labor Markets • Population • Neighborhood Characteristics	R2	Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
R41	Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion • Travel Time • Safety and Accidents • Transportation Noise	R4	Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
O18	Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis • Housing • Infrastructure	O1	Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
J61	Geographic Labor Mobility • Immigrant Workers	J6	Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

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

License

Name	URI
Modified BSD3	https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email
Javier E. Baez	World Bank	jbaez@worldbank.org
Reproducibility WBG	World Bank	reproducibility@worldbank.org

Information on metadata

Producers

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation	Role
Reproducibility WBG	DECDI	World Bank - Development Impact Department	Verification and preparation of metadata

Date of Production

2025-11-22

Document version

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