A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile

Karen A. Kopecky () and Richard M. H. Suen ()

No 200901, Working Papers from University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics

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.

Keywords: automobile; suburbanization; population density gradients; technological progress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E10 O11 N12 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-mac and nep-ure
Date: 2009-01, Revised 2009-01
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http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/13258/1/MPRA_paper_13258.pdf First version, 2009 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile (2009)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucr:wpaper:200901

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