4. “A Mighty Pump”

Abstract

The federal government is often cited as the primary driver of postwar suburbanization in the United States. This chapter argues that the insurance industry also played a central, but largely overlooked, role in financing and shaping suburban development. Decentralization and a successful assault on existing investment regulation allowed the industry to revolutionize its investment practices during the 1950s and 1960s. Insurance companies poured billions of dollars into single-family home mortgages, suburban shopping centers, and office buildings located on the periphery of urban centers. These investments helped standardize and increase the pace of suburbanization on a national scale while expanding the governing reach of the insurance industry.