Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000

Leah Boustan, Devin Bunten and Owen Hearey
Additional contact information
Leah Boustan: UCLA
Devin Bunten: University of California at Los Angeles
Owen Hearey: University of California at Los Angeles

Working Papers from Princeton University. Economics Department.

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.

Keywords: Urbanization; Urban Wage Premium; Urban History; United States History (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N91 N92 R00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000 (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:econom:2013-7

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