Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000

Leah Boustan, Devin Michelle Bunten and Owen Hearey

No 19041, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This handbook chapter seeks to document the economic forces that led the US to become an urban nation over its two hundred year history. We show that the urban wage premium in the US was remarkably stable over the past two centuries, ranging between 15 and 40 percent, while the rent premium was more variable. The urban wage premium rose through the mid-nineteenth century as new manufacturing technologies enhanced urban productivity; then fell from 1880 to 1940 (especially through 1915) as investments in public health infrastructure improved the urban quality of life; and finally rose sharply after 1980, coinciding with the skill- (and apparently also urban-) biased technological change of the computer revolution. The second half of the chapter focuses instead on the location of workers and firms within metropolitan areas. Over the twentieth century, both households and employment have relocated from the central city to the suburban ring. The two forces emphasized in the monocentric city model, rising incomes and falling commuting costs, can explain much of this pattern, while urban crime and racial diversity also played a role.

JEL-codes: N91 N92 R0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
Note: DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Working Paper: Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000 (2013)
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