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Can Cities Manage Growth Through Taxation? A Study of Spatial Equilibria in California Cities

Local government policy often relies on taxation to address the central concern of ensuring municipal growth. This paper uses a measure of taxes compiled by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government called the Kosmont Cost of Doing Business rating to discuss the effects of tax policy on growth. The goal of this paper is to use the spatial equilibrium model to estimate the correlation between the cost of doing business and certain basic observable outcomes. These outcomes are reflected in wage, population, and price levels. The underlying spatial equilibrium model leads to “deep effects” equations, which are used to connect these observable correlations to more tangible measures of growth. Through the deep effects equations, we analyze the effect of the cost of doing business on the productivity, amenities, and economic success of California’s cities. We find that a higher cost of doing business does not lead to lower productivity and amenities, but rather improves amenities and maintains steady levels of productivity under a long-term equilibrium.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:CLAREMONT/oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cmc_theses-1752
Date01 January 2013
CreatorsAbazajian, Katya A
PublisherScholarship @ Claremont
Source SetsClaremont Colleges
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceCMC Senior Theses
Rights© 2013 Katya A. Abazajian

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