@pzmyers Another element in development patterns is ... the insurance industry.

This has a few dynamics.

Internet pioneer Paul Baran noted this in 1966, see note on p.6 of "On the Future Computer Era: Modification of the American Character and the Role of the Engineer, or, A Little Caution in the Haste to Number", a short monograph published by RAND:
https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3780.html

More recently I've heard a couple of author interviews for books covering the insurance industry. Caley Horan, "Insurance Era: Risk, Governance, and the Privatization of Security in Postwar America" talks about several aspects, including overtly racist real-estate investments by major US insurance companies (Met Life in particular).

At about 19:20 in this interview:
https://newbooksnetwork.com/insurance-era
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/track/1C3AGD/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBN4661817203.mp3

Life insurance also financed shopping malls and suburban office complexes.

#Housing #discrimination #racism #insurance #MetLife #CaleyHoran #PaulBuran #InstitutionalRacism