[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedpwp/99-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does the tax treatment of housing create an incentive for exclusionary zoning and increased decentralization?

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Voith
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a new framework to analyze the potential role of the federal tax treatment of housing in the patterns of metropolitan development. The framework the author uses to address the issue has a very different focus from that of the basic urban model. Following the work of Voith and Gyourko (1998), the author develops an equilibrium model of two communities, one of which has fixed boundaries and the other does not. The author calls the fixed boundary community the city and the unbounded community the suburb. Individuals in these communities are assumed to have similar systematic tastes over housing and community amenities, but they also have an idiosyncratic preference for either the city or the suburb. For a given individual, the relative attractiveness of the city and the suburbs depends on his or her idiosyncratic taste, the relative amenities of the city and suburbs, and the relative price. Community amenities are endogenously determined and are assumed to depend on the distribution of high and low income individuals. High concentrations of low income residents in a community potentially can adversely affect the attractiveness of the community. Within this framework, the author examines the residential choices of high and low income individuals with and without zoning constraints. Given these outcomes, the author evaluates the relative profitability of communities choosing exclusionary zoning or not by comparing the aggregate land values under both regimes. ; In this framework, the author shows that housing-related tax incentives are likely to create incentives for suburban communities to enact exclusionary zoning. To the extent that these incentives actually result in more exclusionary zoning, it reinforces the marginal effects on decentralization and sorting that result from the tax code?s effects on individuals? choices regarding land consumption and residential location. This is an important result because it suggests that the spatial and sorting impact of the tax treatment of housing may be larger than its effects on individuals? choices of residential location and housing consumption alone. In fact, under reasonable parameterizations, the tax incentives can result in large changes in equilibrium land prices, community choices, and community characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Voith, 1999. "Does the tax treatment of housing create an incentive for exclusionary zoning and increased decentralization?," Working Papers 99-22, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:99-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/frbp/assets/working-papers/1999/wp99-22.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Poterba, 1991. "House Price Dynamics: The Role of Tax Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 22(2), pages 143-204.
    2. Peter Mieszkowski & Edwin S. Mills, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-147, Summer.
    3. repec:bla:scandj:v:84:y:1982:i:2:p:293-311 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Blackley, Dixie & Follain, James R., 1983. "Inflation, tax advantages to homeownership and the locational choices of households," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 505-516, November.
    5. Pogodzinski, J. M. & Sass, Tim R., 1994. "The theory and estimation of endogenous zoning," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 601-630, October.
    6. Patric H. Hendershott, 1982. "Government Policies and the Allocation of Capital Between Residential and Industrial Uses," NBER Working Papers 1036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. James M. Poterba, 1984. "Tax Subsidies to Owner-Occupied Housing: An Asset-Market Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(4), pages 729-752.
    8. Martin Feldstein, 1983. "Inflation, Tax Rules, and the Accumulation of Residential and Nonresidential Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Inflation, Tax Rules, and Capital Formation, pages 81-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. William T. Bogart, 1993. "'What Big Teeth You Have!': Identifying the Motivations for Exclusionary Zoning," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 30(10), pages 1669-1681, December.
    10. A. E. Holmans, 1964. "The Derived Demand Curve Fora Productive Factor And The Industry Supply Curve," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 235-261.
    11. Joseph Gyourko & Richard Voith, "undated". "The Price Elasticity of the Demand for Residential Land," Zell/Lurie Center Working Papers 329, Wharton School Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. Joseph Gyourko & Richard Voith, 1998. "The tax treatment of housing: its effects on bounded and unbounded communities," Working Papers 98-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    13. Edwin S. Mills, 1987. "Dividing up the investment pie: have we overinvested in housing?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Mar, pages 13-23.
    14. Epple, Dennis & Romer, Thomas & Filimon, Radu, 1988. "Community development with endogenous land use controls," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 133-162, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kurt Paulsen, 2013. "The Effects of Growth Management on the Spatial Extent of Urban Development, Revisited," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 193-210.
    2. Guerrieri, Veronica & Hartley, Daniel & Hurst, Erik, 2013. "Endogenous gentrification and housing price dynamics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 45-60.
    3. Joseph Gyourko & Richard Voith, 1998. "The tax treatment of housing: its effects on bounded and unbounded communities," Working Papers 98-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    4. Darren M. Scott & Kenneth Bruce Newbold & Jamie E.L. Spinney & Ruben Mercado & Antonio Páez & Pavlos S. Kanaroglou, 2009. "New Insights into Senior Travel Behavior: The Canadian Experience," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 140-168, March.
    5. Richard Voith, 1999. "Does the federal tax treatment of housing affect the pattern of metropolitan development?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Mar, pages 3-16.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Voith, 1999. "Does the federal tax treatment of housing affect the pattern of metropolitan development?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Mar, pages 3-16.
    2. Voith, Richard & Gyourko, Joseph, 2002. "Capitalization of federal taxes, the relative price of housing, and urban form: density and sorting effects," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 673-690, November.
    3. Joseph Gyourko & Richard Voith, 1998. "The tax treatment of housing: its effects on bounded and unbounded communities," Working Papers 98-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    4. Isaac F. Megbolugbe & Peter D. Linneman, 1993. "Home Ownership," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 30(4-5), pages 659-682, May.
    5. Kuchler, Theresa & Piazzesi, Monika & Ströbel, Johannes, 2022. "Housing Market Expectations," CEPR Discussion Papers 17158, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Paulo M.M. Rodrigues & Rita Fradique Lourenço, 2015. "House prices: bubbles, exuberance or something else? Evidence from euro area countries," Working Papers w201517, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    7. Wu, Guiying Laura & Feng, Qu & Li, Pei, 2015. "Does local governments’ budget deficit push up housing prices in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 183-196.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1912, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Matteo Iacoviello, 2002. "House Prices and Business Cycles in Europe: a VAR Analysis," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 540, Boston College Department of Economics.
    10. Perry Singleton, 2015. "Health, Medical Innovation, and Disability Insurance: A Care Study of HIV Antiretroviral Therapy," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 182, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    11. Addison-Smyth, Diarmaid & McQuinn, Kieran & O' Reilly, Gerard, 2008. "Estimating the Structural Demand for Irish Housing," Research Technical Papers 1/RT/08, Central Bank of Ireland.
    12. Morris A. Davis, 2010. "housing and the business cycle," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics,, Palgrave Macmillan.
    13. Berkovec, James & Fullerton, Don, 1989. "The General Equilibrium Effects of Inflation on Housing Consumption and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 277-282, May.
    14. Piazzesi, M. & Schneider, M., 2016. "Housing and Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1547-1640, Elsevier.
    15. Davis, Morris A. & Heathcote, Jonathan, 2007. "The price and quantity of residential land in the United States," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(8), pages 2595-2620, November.
    16. Englund, Peter & Ioannides, Yannis M., 1997. "House Price Dynamics: An International Empirical Perspective," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 119-136, June.
    17. Dieci, Roberto & Westerhoff, Frank, 2016. "Heterogeneous expectations, boom-bust housing cycles, and supply conditions: A nonlinear economic dynamics approach," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 21-44.
    18. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Christian Julliard, 2008. "Money Illusion and Housing Frenzies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 135-180, January.
    19. Juan Ayuso & Fernando Restoy, 2003. "House prices and rents: an equilibrium asset pricing approach," Working Papers 0304, Banco de España.
    20. Yongqiang Chu, 2014. "Credit constraints, inelastic supply, and the housing boom," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(1), pages 52-69, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing; Income; Taxation;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:99-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Beth Paul (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbphus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.