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A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile

Author

Listed:
  • Karen A. Kopecky

    (Department of Economics, The University of Western Ontario)

  • Richard M. H. Suen

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

Abstract

Suburbanization in the U.S. between 1910 and 1970 was concurrent with the rapid diffusion of the automobile. A circular city model is developed in order to access quantitatively the contribution of automobiles and rising incomes to suburbanization. The model incorporates a number of driving forces of suburbanization and car adoption, including falling automobile prices, rising real incomes, changing costs of traveling by car and with public transportation, and urban population growth. According to the model, 60 percent of postwar (1940-1970) suburbanization can be explained by these factors. Rising real incomes and falling automobile prices are shown to be the key drivers of suburbanization.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen A. Kopecky & Richard M. H. Suen, 2009. "A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile," Working Papers 200901, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:200901
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Federico, Giovanni & Bisin, Alberto, 2021. "Merger or acquisition? An introduction to the Handbook of Historical economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 15795, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    7. Federico Curci & Federico Masera, 2018. "Flight from urban blight: lead poisoning, crime and suburbanization," Working Papers 2018/09, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    8. Agrawal, David R. & Zhao, Weihua, 2023. "Taxing Uber," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    9. David Lagakos, 2009. "Superstores or mom and pops? Technolgy adoption and productivity differences in retail trade," Staff Report 428, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    10. Leah Platt Boustan & Robert A. Margo, 2011. "White Suburbanization and African-American Home Ownership, 1940-1980," NBER Working Papers 16702, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Goulden, Murray & Ryley, Tim & Dingwall, Robert, 2014. "Beyond ‘predict and provide’: UK transport, the growth paradigm and climate change," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 139-147.
    12. Arvid Krüger & Uwe Altrock, 2023. "Mobility Hubs: A Way Out of Car Dependency Through a New Multifunctional Housing Development?," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 112-125.
    13. 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.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    automobile; suburbanization; population density gradients; technological progress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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