IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v19y2000i4p569-586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The environmental impact of suburbanization

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew E. Kahn

    (Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University)

Abstract

The U.S. population is increasingly spreading out, moving to the suburbs, and migrating from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. This paper uses recent household-level data sets to study some of the environmental consequences of population suburbanization. It measures the increase in household driving, home fuel consumption, and land consumption brought about by population dispersion. Suburban households drive 31 percent more than their urban counterparts, and western households drive 35 percent more miles than northeastern households. Despite increased vehicle dependence, local air quality has not been degraded in sprawling areas, thanks to emissions controls. Technological innovation can mitigate the environmental consequences of resource-intensive suburbanization. © 2000 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "The environmental impact of suburbanization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 569-586.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:19:y:2000:i:4:p:569-586
    DOI: 10.1002/1520-6688(200023)19:4<569::AID-PAM3>3.0.CO;2-P
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Berry Cullen & Steven D. Levitt, 1999. "Crime, Urban Flight, And The Consequences For Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 159-169, May.
    2. Peter Mieszkowski & Edwin S. Mills, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-147, Summer.
    3. Margo, Robert A., 1992. "Explaining the postwar suburbanization of population in the United States: The role of income," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 301-310, May.
    4. Brueckner, Jan K & Fansler, David A, 1983. "The Economics of Urban Sprawl: Theory and Evidence on the Spatial Sizes of Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(3), pages 479-482, August.
    5. Matthew E. Kahn, 1996. "New Evidence on Trends in Vehicle Emissions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(1), pages 183-196, Spring.
    6. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, 1998. "The Effects of the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards in the US," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 1-33, March.
    7. Joseph Gyourko & Richard Voith, 1997. "Does the U.S. tax treatment of housing promote suburbanization and central city decline?," Working Papers 97-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. Dickie, Mark & Gerking, Shelby, 1991. "Willingness to Pay for ozone control: Inferences from the demand for medical care," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2004. "Sprawl and urban growth," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 56, pages 2481-2527, Elsevier.
    2. Bayoh, Isaac & Irwin, Elena G. & Haab, Timothy C., 2002. "Flight From Blight Vs. Natural Evolution: Determinats Of Household Residential Location Choice And Suburbanization," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19668, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2015. "Urban Land Use," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 467-560, Elsevier.
    4. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E. & Rappaport, Jordan, 2008. "Why do the poor live in cities The role of public transportation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Karen A. Kopecky & Richard M. H. Suen, 2010. "A Quantitative Analysis Of Suburbanization And The Diffusion Of The Automobile," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1003-1037, November.
    6. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn & Jordan Rappaport, 2000. "Why Do the Poor Live in Cities?," NBER Working Papers 7636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Alain Pirotte & Jean-Loup Madre, 2011. "Determinants of Urban Sprawl in France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(13), pages 2865-2886, October.
    8. Thomas J. Nechyba & Randall P. Walsh, 2004. "Urban Sprawl," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 177-200, Fall.
    9. Miriam Hortas-Rico, 2015. "Sprawl, Blight, And The Role Of Urban Containment Policies: Evidence From U.S. Cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 298-323, March.
    10. Miguel Gómez-Antonio & Miriam Hortas-Rico & Linna Li, 2016. "The Causes of Urban Sprawl in Spanish Urban Areas: A Spatial Approach," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 219-247, June.
    11. Andrew Foote, 2015. "Decomposing the Effect of Crime on Population Changes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 705-728, April.
    12. Moreno-Sanchez, Rocio del Pilar & Irwin, Elena G., 2004. "Does Distance Make Good Neighbors? The Role Of Spatial Externalities And Income In Residential Development Patterns," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 19973, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Robert W. Wassmer, 2002. "Fiscalisation of Land Use, Urban Growth Boundaries and Non-central Retail Sprawl in the Western United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(8), pages 1307-1327, July.
    14. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1912, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    15. Kuzey Yılmaz & Muharrem Yeşilırmak, 2023. "Access to transportation, residential segregation, and economic opportunity," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(1), pages 103-127, January.
    16. Bento, Antonio M. & Franco, Sofia F. & Kaffine, Daniel, 2011. "Is there a double-dividend from anti-sprawl policies?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 135-152, March.
    17. Chao Wei & Shanjun Li, 2014. "The Cost of Greening Stimulus: A Dynamic Discrete Choice Analysis of Vehicle Scrappage Programs," Working Papers 2014-12, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    18. Hailu, Yohannes G. & Brown, Cheryl, 2007. "Regional Growth Impacts on Agricultural Land Development: A Spatial Model for Three States," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-15, April.
    19. repec:npf:wpaper:23 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo, 2021. "Agglomeration of low-productive entrepreneurs to large regions: a simple model," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 471-486, October.
    21. Fullerton, Don & West, Sarah E., 2002. "Can Taxes on Cars and on Gasoline Mimic an Unavailable Tax on Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 135-157, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:19:y:2000:i:4:p:569-586. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.