The demand for automobile in the USA before and after the crisis

Type de publication:

Conference Paper


Bruno Jetin


Gerpisa colloquium, Berlin (2010)


The first objective of our contribution is to analyse the evolution of the demand for automobile of US households before and after the crisis that broke in 2008. We study the impact of the income distribution at the national level on households’ consumption and more specifically on automobile outlays on the long-term period. We also analyse the impact of households’ equities and debt on automobile demand and the evolution of the financing of automobile purchase. We also analyse the evolution of the price and cost usage of automobiles in the US. We evaluate the changes of these variables before and after the crisis using the most updated data available. The second objective is to evaluate the role of the federal state in the shaping of the automobile demand. We analyse specifically the role of the fiscal and environmental regulations. We show that the regulation adopted favoured the SUV segment to the benefit of the big three in the years 1980-2000. But in the end, this politics is also the cause of the big three present demise. If the state had adopted a proactive innovation policy, the big three would be in a much favourable competitive position today. In conclusion, we draw the lessons of the US automobile demand pattern to explain the present state of the competitiveness of the US automobile industry.

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