Segregation of households on the dimension of income at the jurisdictional level is interesting to economists because, under some conditions, it is an equilibrium condition in the political economy models of jurisdiction choice that follow from Tiebout. This paper addresses the measurement of...

In 2018, the top 5 percent of homes in Greater Vancouver, based on their property value, had a median value of $3.7 million, but the median owner of a home in this group paid income taxes of just $15,800. Using data from the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, the authors analyze the...

We show that the optimal property tax rate rises with the ratio of land rents to structure and land development costs. California’s high ratio of income to property tax revenue and the distribution of Federal housing subsidies thus appear geographically misplaced. Proportional taxation of...

Dense, expensive, litigious, and highly regulated, Manhattan typifies coastal US housing markets. Manhattan has lost share of US residential construction over the last 45 years. Some attribute this trend to tightening local regulation, but the decline of public housing construction and the...

This paper shows how home equity may substitute for long-term care insurance (LTCI). The elderly commonly hold substantial wealth in the form of home equity that is rarely spent before death, except for after moves to long-term care facilities. Absent strong bequest motives implies that marginal...

Annuities, long-term care insurance (LTCI), and reverse mortgages appear to offer important consumption smoothing benefits to the elderly, yet private markets for these products are small. A prominent idea is to combine LTCI and annuities to alleviate both supply (selection) and demand...