A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile

Kopecky, Karen A. and Suen, Richard M. H. (2009): A Quantitative Analysis of Suburbanization and the Diffusion of the Automobile.

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.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: automobile; suburbanization; population density gradients; technological progress
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O11 - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics ; Industrial Structure ; Growth ; Fluctuations > N12 - U.S. ; Canada: 1913-; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E10 - General

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