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Suburbanization And Market Failure: An Analysis Of Government Policies Promoting Suburban Growth And Ethnic Assimilation, William E. Nelson, Norman R. Williams

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article addresses the social history of suburbanization in America in the twentieth century by analyzing the relationship between government policy and suburbanization through a study of Nassau County, New York. In Part I, the authors compare examinations of the suburban housing market between 1920 and 1940 and post-World War II. Whereas the former was characterized by high mortgage foreclosure rates preventing land owners and builders from selling their property, the low mortgage foreclosure rates post-World War III advanced suburbanization. In Part II, the authors turn their focus to Nassau County’s transportation infrastructure and the insignificant impact it had on …