2004
Abstract:
In the U.S., people have been moving from the cities to the suburbs for decades. Some
analysts have argued that suburbanization has occurred at the cost of efficient travel
patterns, in no small part because almost all roads and highways are unpriced. But
evidence has accumulated over the years that suburbanization is as much a traffic
“solution” as it is a problem. The reason is that many employers have actually followed
workers into the suburbs, so most commuting is now suburb-to-suburb. In economists’ terms,
the inefficiencies in transportation have been partially remedied by the efficient functioning of
flexible land markets. As a result, average commuting times (and their distributions) have been
relatively stable for some thirty years. Suburbanization, therefore, has been seen as a “traffic
safety valve.”
