Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000 / Leah Platt Boustan, Devin Michelle Bunten, Owen Hearey.

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Boustan, Leah Platt

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Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w19041.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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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.

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Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w19041 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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Previous	nber w19039 The "Greatest" Carry Trade Ever? Understanding Eurozone Bank Risks /	nber w1904 The Impact of Fundamental Tax Reform on the Allocation of Resources /	nber w19040 The Origins and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women's Labor Force Participation /	nber w19041 Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000 /	nber w19042 Aggregation and The Estimated Effects of Local Economic Conditions on Health /	nber w19043 Two-Armed Restless Bandits with Imperfect Information: Stochastic Control and Indexability /	nber w19044 A Microeconomic Framework for Evaluating Energy Efficiency Rebound And Some Implications /	Next

May 2013.

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.