Abstract
Automobile use in the United States has been subsidized directly through highway funding policies, and indirectly through externalities and petroleum subsidies. These long-term subsidies along with other factors have encouraged a pattern of urban and regional land use characterized by sprawl. This article presents an estimate of automobile subsidies, based in part on the detailed reporting requirements under Wisconsin's transportation aid formula and on existing literature. Long-established urban land theory is used to link subsidies to land use. Registration fees and gasoline taxes are considered as potential policy responses.

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