Recent empirical literature finds that greater economic freedom at the state level tends to have a positive effect on entrepreneurial activity and economic growth generally. However, state boundaries are relatively arbitrary, and the level of economic freedom in local economies can vary widely...

This study tackles a question largely neglected in the debate in economics about local government structure: What impact does the structure of government have on poverty? Using data from the 2000 Census and the 2002 Census of Governments for 331 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, I model the...

Citizens in U.S. metropolitan areas receive goods and services provided by sub-county governments that include municipalities/townships, school districts, and special districts. Beginning with Tiebout, economists have theorized that economic factors play an important role in determining the...

The provision of open space is at the heart of a complex arbitration of local public finance and urban quality of life. The amount of open space varies substantially across urban areas. This variation raises some natural questions: What determines the amount of open space in an urban area? How...

Are the well-known facts about urbanization in the United States also true for the developing world? We compare American metropolitan areas with comparable geographic units in Brazil, China and India. Both Gibrat's Law and Zipf's Law seem to hold as well in Brazil as in the U.S., but China and...

Are the well-known facts about urbanization in the United States also true for the developing world? We compare American metropolitan areas with comparable geographic units in Brazil, China and India. Both Gibrat's Law and Zipf's Law seem to hold as well in Brazil as in the U.S., but China and...