Using state-level data on productive and unproductive entrepreneurship, shadow economy size, and public official corruption, this paper examines whether formal sector productive (unproductive) entrepreneurial activity is associated with lower (higher) levels of informal economic activity....

This paper compares states in terms of their relative fiscal capacity, fiscal need, fiscal comfort, and tax effort in state fiscal year 1999 (FY1999). It is the most recent in a series initiated by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) in 1962. As in previous...

Though the U.S. federal investment tax credit (ITC) was permanently repealed in 1986, statelevel ITCs have proliferated over the last few decades. Are these tax incentives effective in increasing investment within the state? How much of this increase is due to investment drawn away from other...

Dramatic declines in capital tax rates among U.S. states and European countries have been linked by many commentators to tax competition and an inevitable race to the bottom. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the reaction of capital tax policy in a given U.S. state to changes in...

Die Forderung nach höherer Transparenz und besserer Wirkungsorientierung von Subventionen ist ein finanzpolitischer Evergreen, der mit der Schuldenbremse und der Forderung nach langfristiger Tragfähigkeit der Finanzpolitik, zusätzliche Dringlichkeit erhält. Die im Auftrag des...

Social interactions determine many economic behaviors, but information on social ties does not exist in most publicly available and widely used datasets. We present results on the identification of social networks from observational panel data that contains no information on social ties between...

Social interactions determine many economic behaviors, but information on social ties does not exist in most publicly available and widely used datasets. We present results on the identification of social networks from observational panel data that contains no information on social ties between...

This article attempts a formal analysis of the connection between property tax and urban sprawl in U.S. cities. We develop a theoretical model that includes households (who are also landlords) and land developers in a regional land market. We then test the model empirically based on a national...

This article attempts a formal analysis of the connection between the differentiated property tax rates within urban areas and urban spatial pattern in U.S. cities. We first develop a duocentric-city model where the Central Business District (CBD) is located at the origin while the Suburban...

This paper develops new measures of environmental costs and local revenue capacity as the basis for a new municipal aid formula in Massachusetts. On the cost side, unlike previous studies, we quantify the effects on local non-school spending of characteristics related to uncontrollable costs. On...