THE SHARED FORTUNES OF CITIES AND SUBURBS

          For more than 50 years, suburbs across the U.S. have prospered while many of the large cities they surrounded stagnated. Does this mean that cities and suburbs tend to grow only at each other’s expense?

          Jordan Rappaport, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City explores this question in “The Shared Fortunes of Cities and Suburbs.” The article is featured in the third quarter edition of the Economic Review.

          The author examines the main forces that have influenced growth of cities and suburbs over the past century. He finds that while the suburban portion of the United States did indeed grow at the expense of the city portion throughout most of the 20th century, “the more important determinant of the growth of any specific city or suburb was the growth of the metropolitan area in which it was located. As a result, cities and their surrounding suburbs tended to grow or decline together as their metro areas prospered or struggled.”

          Because cities and their suburbs tend to share the same fortunes, Rappaport argues that it makes sense for the two to cooperate to make their metro areas attractive and productive places to live and work.

          The article is also featured on the Bank’s website: www.KansasCityFed.org.

 

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