The urban sector in Ethiopia has largely been neglected by researchers and policy analysts, and ignored in debates on poverty. This has resulted in a 'rural bias', which is reflected in development policies and public debate in the country. If one of the goals of development is to reverse the dominance of the rural economy, and to place the urban environment on the centre stage, it is important to shift the balance of the research agenda from the rural to the urban. The papers in this volume were first presented at the Third International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy convened by the Ethiopian Economic Association in 2005.