Kuala Lampur, July 17 -- Many assume rural-urban migration is a straightforward path out of poverty. The latest World Bank research suggests otherwise. Every year, millions of young people across the developing world head for the city. They are chasing a simple promise: that the bright lights and bustling streets will deliver them from the drudgery of rural poverty. But what if that promise is broken before they even arrive? What if the biggest obstacle to escaping poverty isn't a lack of jobs in the city, but the journey itself?

A comprehensive 2021 World Bank research paper by Harris Selod and Forhad Shilpi turns much of what we thought we knew about migration on its head. Their review of decades of evidence delivers an uncomfortable t...