Adam Millsap - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Adam Millsap
I present a framework for analyzing city competition that clarifies the different dimensions alon... more I present a framework for analyzing city competition that clarifies the different dimensions along which cities can compete with one another for people and firms. I contend that current urban development strategies are largely based on a 'hydraulic' approach to development and discuss an alternative that focuses on polices and the amount of local government impediments to urban development that exist across cities. Using a sample of 381 metropolitan areas (MSAs) and an MSA economic freedom index, I find that MSAs with fewer government impediments experienced more per capita income growth from 2002 to 2005. I also find that MSAs with more overall freedom experienced more population growth from 2002 to 2011 and from 2002 to 2015, and these results were driven by tax freedom and labor market freedom. Taken together, this evidence is consistent with several country and state-level studies that find that government impediments to economic activity affect intensive and extensive e...
This dissertation encompasses three papers. My rst paper contributes to the larger literature on ... more This dissertation encompasses three papers. My rst paper contributes to the larger literature on the e ect of individual-level characteristics on urban location choice by examining whether young people aged 25 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to live in central cities in 2011 than in 1990. In 1990 37% of 25 34 year olds (Baby Boomers) living within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) lived in a central city. By 2011 the percentage of young people (Millennials) living in a MSA that lived in a central city had declined to 33%. However, when 25 34 year olds are segmented by education it is clear that this decline was driven by young people with less than a bachelor's degree. Conditional on living in a MSA the percentage of young people with a bachelor's or advanced degree that lived in a central city was approximately 36% in both 1990 and 2011. When I control for individual-level characteristics I nd that the e ect of education on the probability of l...
This paper provides an overview of economically efficient tax policy for state and local policy m... more This paper provides an overview of economically efficient tax policy for state and local policy makers and contains a short literature review of papers that analyze the economic effects of state and local taxes.
Journal of Planning Education and Research
Houston is known for its lack of Euclidean-style zoning, but the city still has various ordinance... more Houston is known for its lack of Euclidean-style zoning, but the city still has various ordinances that control land use. In 1998, Houston reformed its subdivision rules to allow for parcels smaller than five thousand square feet citywide. In this paper, we discuss the unique land-use rules in place in Houston prior to reform and the circumstances that led to reform, including the “opt out” provisions, which mediated homeowner opposition to substantial increases in housing density. We then analyze the effects of reform. After relief from large lot requirements, post-reform development activity was heavily concentrated in middle-income, less dense, underbuilt neighborhoods.
SSRN Electronic Journal
In this paper we create an index that measures the growth of the 50 state governments and the Dis... more In this paper we create an index that measures the growth of the 50 state governments and the District of Columbia's expenditures relative to the growth of their private sector economies. In a state where government expenditures grow faster than the private sector economy as a whole, the amount of resources the government controls increases over time. This can have a negative effect on economic growth in the long run, since economic growth is driven by resource use and innovations in the private sector. We use two measures to describe the size of state and local government: state and local government's contribution to Gross State Product (GSP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and state and local direct general expenditures from the Census Annual Finance Survey. We then contrast these figures with private sector GSP, as measured by the BEA.
Public Finance Review
Brennan and Buchanan’s Leviathan hypothesis states that “potential for fiscal exploitation varies... more Brennan and Buchanan’s Leviathan hypothesis states that “potential for fiscal exploitation varies inversely with the number of competing governmental units” (p. 211) and that “total government intrusion into the economy should be smaller, ceteris paribus, the greater the extent to which taxes and expenditures are decentralized [and]…the smaller the jurisdictions” (p. 185). Using data for US metropolitan statistical areas, we provide the first local-level test of that hypothesis (that we are aware of) that uses “economic freedom” as the dependent variable, which provides a better measure of “total government intrusion into the economy” than the less comprehensive measures (taxes or spending) used in the previous literature. We find mixed support for the Leviathan hypothesis. The number of competing jurisdictions is positively associated with economic freedom, driven largely by the labor market freedom component as opposed to the government spending and tax components (the very measur...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Papers in Regional Science, 2016
This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of individual-level characteristics on urb... more This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of individual-level characteristics on urban location choice by examining whether young people aged 25-34 with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to live in central cities in 2011 than in 1990. When I control for individual-level characteristics I find that the effect of education on the probability of living in a central city remains similar across generations. This is evidence that to the extent education plays a role in the larger population of high human-capital 25-34 year olds in cities in 2011 it is due to a composition effect rather than cities becoming more attractive to educated people at the margin.
I present a framework for analyzing city competition that clarifies the different dimensions alon... more I present a framework for analyzing city competition that clarifies the different dimensions along which cities can compete with one another for people and firms. I contend that current urban development strategies are largely based on a 'hydraulic' approach to development and discuss an alternative that focuses on polices and the amount of local government impediments to urban development that exist across cities. Using a sample of 381 metropolitan areas (MSAs) and an MSA economic freedom index, I find that MSAs with fewer government impediments experienced more per capita income growth from 2002 to 2005. I also find that MSAs with more overall freedom experienced more population growth from 2002 to 2011 and from 2002 to 2015, and these results were driven by tax freedom and labor market freedom. Taken together, this evidence is consistent with several country and state-level studies that find that government impediments to economic activity affect intensive and extensive e...
This dissertation encompasses three papers. My rst paper contributes to the larger literature on ... more This dissertation encompasses three papers. My rst paper contributes to the larger literature on the e ect of individual-level characteristics on urban location choice by examining whether young people aged 25 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to live in central cities in 2011 than in 1990. In 1990 37% of 25 34 year olds (Baby Boomers) living within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) lived in a central city. By 2011 the percentage of young people (Millennials) living in a MSA that lived in a central city had declined to 33%. However, when 25 34 year olds are segmented by education it is clear that this decline was driven by young people with less than a bachelor's degree. Conditional on living in a MSA the percentage of young people with a bachelor's or advanced degree that lived in a central city was approximately 36% in both 1990 and 2011. When I control for individual-level characteristics I nd that the e ect of education on the probability of l...
This paper provides an overview of economically efficient tax policy for state and local policy m... more This paper provides an overview of economically efficient tax policy for state and local policy makers and contains a short literature review of papers that analyze the economic effects of state and local taxes.
Journal of Planning Education and Research
Houston is known for its lack of Euclidean-style zoning, but the city still has various ordinance... more Houston is known for its lack of Euclidean-style zoning, but the city still has various ordinances that control land use. In 1998, Houston reformed its subdivision rules to allow for parcels smaller than five thousand square feet citywide. In this paper, we discuss the unique land-use rules in place in Houston prior to reform and the circumstances that led to reform, including the “opt out” provisions, which mediated homeowner opposition to substantial increases in housing density. We then analyze the effects of reform. After relief from large lot requirements, post-reform development activity was heavily concentrated in middle-income, less dense, underbuilt neighborhoods.
SSRN Electronic Journal
In this paper we create an index that measures the growth of the 50 state governments and the Dis... more In this paper we create an index that measures the growth of the 50 state governments and the District of Columbia's expenditures relative to the growth of their private sector economies. In a state where government expenditures grow faster than the private sector economy as a whole, the amount of resources the government controls increases over time. This can have a negative effect on economic growth in the long run, since economic growth is driven by resource use and innovations in the private sector. We use two measures to describe the size of state and local government: state and local government's contribution to Gross State Product (GSP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and state and local direct general expenditures from the Census Annual Finance Survey. We then contrast these figures with private sector GSP, as measured by the BEA.
Public Finance Review
Brennan and Buchanan’s Leviathan hypothesis states that “potential for fiscal exploitation varies... more Brennan and Buchanan’s Leviathan hypothesis states that “potential for fiscal exploitation varies inversely with the number of competing governmental units” (p. 211) and that “total government intrusion into the economy should be smaller, ceteris paribus, the greater the extent to which taxes and expenditures are decentralized [and]…the smaller the jurisdictions” (p. 185). Using data for US metropolitan statistical areas, we provide the first local-level test of that hypothesis (that we are aware of) that uses “economic freedom” as the dependent variable, which provides a better measure of “total government intrusion into the economy” than the less comprehensive measures (taxes or spending) used in the previous literature. We find mixed support for the Leviathan hypothesis. The number of competing jurisdictions is positively associated with economic freedom, driven largely by the labor market freedom component as opposed to the government spending and tax components (the very measur...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Papers in Regional Science, 2016
This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of individual-level characteristics on urb... more This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of individual-level characteristics on urban location choice by examining whether young people aged 25-34 with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to live in central cities in 2011 than in 1990. When I control for individual-level characteristics I find that the effect of education on the probability of living in a central city remains similar across generations. This is evidence that to the extent education plays a role in the larger population of high human-capital 25-34 year olds in cities in 2011 it is due to a composition effect rather than cities becoming more attractive to educated people at the margin.