A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUBURBANIZATION AND THE DIFFUSION OF THE AUTOMOBILE

Karen Kopecky and Richard M. H. Suen

International Economic Review, 2010, vol. 51, issue 4, 1003-1037

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.

Date: 2010
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http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-2354.2010.00609.x

Related works:
Working Paper: A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile (2009)
Working Paper: A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile (2009)
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