A Leisure Deficit Is Killing Suburbia

It's possible the biggest cause of gentrification in formerly depressed urban areas is that today's skilled workers can't spare the time to commute. If true, this has implications for businesses ranging from real estate development to tech -- and raises the question of why companies still insist that white-collar employees come in to work.

Lena Edlund and Michaela Sviatchi of Columbia University and Cecilia Machado of the Getulio Vargas Foundation wondered why the relationship between housing prices and distance from the center of major U.S. cities has reversed since 1980. That year, prices were higher in the suburbs, and urban centers were going to seed. In the next 30 years, prices within three miles of the central business districts of the 27 biggest cities in the U.S. more than doubled. Within a radius of three to 10 miles, they increased by 60 percent. Further out, they only grew by 6 to 10 percent.