Space and Time : A Competing Risks Analysis of the Impact of Property Taxes and Zoning Restrictions on Residential Development

Property taxes and zoning restrictions are prevalent tools for managing urban land use. In this paper, we combine micro-level data on residential subdivision development from a three-county region in the Baltimore, Maryland metro from 1994-2007 with an IV competing risks model to examine how both policies influence the density and timing of residential development outcomes. Consistent with theory, we demonstrate that the impact of both policies on optimal density and timing depends on whether density and time are substitutes or complements in the profit function. Our results have important implications as they provide key empirical insights about how property taxes and zoning interact to influence development patterns within an urban landscape