A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUBURBANIZATION AND THE DIFFUSION OF THE AUTOMOBILE* |
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| Authors: | Karen A Kopecky Richard M H Suen |
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| Institution: | 1. The University of Western Ontario, Canada;2. University of California, Riverside, U.S.A.;3. This article benefited greatly from the advice of Jeremy Greenwood. We are also grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions of Richard Arnott, Mark Bils, Matthew Kahn, Josef Perktold, two anonymous referees, seminar participants at the University of Rochester and UC Riverside, and conference participants at the 2004 SED conference, the 2005 NBER Urban Economics Working Group Meeting, the 2005 Midwest Macro Meetings, and the 2006 Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance's Housing Workshop. Please address correspondence to: Richard M. H. Suen, Department of Economics, Sproul Hall, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. E‐mail: . |
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| Abstract: | Suburbanization in the United States between 1910 and 1970 was concurrent with the 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% 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. |
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