IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v38y2010i6p710-737.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tiebout Competition, Yardstick Competition, and Tax Instrument Choice: Evidence from Ohio School Districts

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua C. Hall

    (Department of Economics and Management, Beloit College, Beloit, WI, USA, halljc@beloit.edu)

  • Justin M. Ross

    (School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA)

Abstract

Previous research has shown that Tiebout-style fiscal competition among local governments reduces the likelihood of adopting income taxes. This literature has not yet considered the impact of yardstick competition on tax instrument choice. This article uses spatial econometrics to test for yardstick competition in the decision to adopt an income tax. The results, based on Ohio school district data, indicate that school districts are more likely to adopt an income tax if their neighbors have already done so. While a negative correlation of Tiebout competition on district income tax adoption persists, controlling for spatial dependence reduces the statistical significance of the effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua C. Hall & Justin M. Ross, 2010. "Tiebout Competition, Yardstick Competition, and Tax Instrument Choice: Evidence from Ohio School Districts," Public Finance Review, , vol. 38(6), pages 710-737, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:38:y:2010:i:6:p:710-737
    DOI: 10.1177/1091142110373479
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1091142110373479
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1091142110373479?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416-416.
    2. Besley, Timothy & Case, Anne, 1995. "Incumbent Behavior: Vote-Seeking, Tax-Setting, and Yardstick Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 25-45, March.
    3. Jon Fiva & Jørn Rattsø, 2007. "Local choice of property taxation: evidence from Norway," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 457-470, September.
    4. Brueckner, Jan K. & Saavedra, Luz A., 2001. "Do Local Governments Engage in Strategic Property-Tax Competition?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(2), pages 203-230, June.
    5. Mukherjee, Bumba & Singer, David Andrew, 2008. "Monetary Institutions, Partisanship, and Inflation Targeting," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(2), pages 323-358, April.
    6. R. Kelley Pace & James P. LeSage, 2004. "Spatial Statistics and Real Estate," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 147-148, September.
    7. Johannes Rincke, 2006. "Policy innovation in local jurisdictions: Testing for neighborhood influence in school choice policies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 189-200, October.
    8. David M. Brasington & Diane Hite, 2005. "Demand for Environmental Quality: A Spatial Hedonic Approach," Departmental Working Papers 2005-08, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    9. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2000. "Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1209-1238, December.
    10. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 22, pages 384-414, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Borland, M V & Howsen, R M, 1996. "Competition, Expenditures and Student Performance in Mathematics: A Comment on Couch et al," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 87(3-4), pages 395-400, June.
    12. Mieszkowski, Peter & Zodrow, George R, 1989. "Taxation and the Tiebout Model: The Differential Effects of Head Taxes, Taxes on Land Rents, and Property Taxes," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1098-1146, September.
    13. Joshua Hall, 2006. "Fiscal competition and tax instrument choice: the role of income inequality," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8.
    14. Brasington, David M. & Hite, Diane, 2005. "Demand for environmental quality: a spatial hedonic analysis," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 57-82, January.
    15. Michael B. Berkman & Eric Plutzer, 2004. "Gray Peril or Loyal Support? The Effects of the Elderly on Educational Expenditures," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1178-1192, December.
    16. Brunner, Eric & Balsdon, Ed, 2004. "Intergenerational conflict and the political economy of school spending," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 369-388, September.
    17. David M. Brasington, 2007. "Public- and Private-School Competition: The Spatial Education Production Function," Springer Books, in: Toichiro Asada & Toshiharu Ishikawa (ed.), Time and Space in Economics, chapter 10, pages 175-203, Springer.
    18. Brennan,Geoffrey & Buchanan,James M., 2006. "The Power to Tax," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521027922.
    19. James M. Poterba, 1997. "Demographic structure and the political economy of public education," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 48-66.
    20. Goodspeed, Timothy J., 1998. "Tax Competition, Benefit Taxes, and Fiscal Federalism," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 51(n. 3), pages 579-86, September.
    21. Spry John Arthur, 2005. "The Effects of Fiscal Competition on Local Property and Income Tax Reliance," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, January.
    22. David Sjoquist, 1981. "A median voter analysis of variations in the use of property taxes among local governments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 273-285, January.
    23. Zax, Jeffrey S, 1989. "Is There a Leviathan in Your Neighborhood?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 560-567, June.
    24. R. Kelley Pace & James P. LeSage, 2010. "Omitted Variable Biases of OLS and Spatial Lag Models," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Antonio Páez & Julie Gallo & Ron N. Buliung & Sandy Dall'erba (ed.), Progress in Spatial Analysis, pages 17-28, Springer.
    25. Fischel, William A., 2001. "Homevoters, Municipal Corporate Governance, and the Benefit View of the Property Tax," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(1), pages 157-174, March.
    26. Mark Schneider, 1986. "Fragmentation and the growth of local government," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 255-263, January.
    27. Jesus Mur & Ana Angulo, 2005. "A closer look at the Spatial Durbin Model," ERSA conference papers ersa05p392, European Regional Science Association.
    28. Samuel Staley & John Blair, 1995. "Institutions, quality competition and public service provision: The case of public education," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 21-33, December.
    29. Anselin, Luc, 2002. "Under the hood : Issues in the specification and interpretation of spatial regression models," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 247-267, November.
    30. Norstrand, Rolf, 1980. "The Choice between Income Tax and Land Tax in Danish Municipalities," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 35(3), pages 412-424.
    31. LeSage, James P., 1997. "Regression Analysis of Spatial Data," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-12.
    32. Cox, Michael & Ross, Justin M., 2011. "Robustness and vulnerability of community irrigation systems: The case of the Taos valley acequias," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 254-266, May.
    33. Goodspeed, Timothy J., 1998. "Tax Competition, Benefit Taxes, and Fiscal Federalism," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(3), pages 579-586, September.
    34. Mark M. Fleming, 2004. "Techniques for Estimating Spatially Dependent Discrete Choice Models," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Sergio J. Rey (ed.), Advances in Spatial Econometrics, chapter 7, pages 145-168, Springer.
    35. Oates, Wallace E., 2005. "Property taxation and local public spending: the renter effect," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 419-431, May.
    36. Fischel, William A., 2001. "Homevoters, Municipal Corporate Governance, and the Benefit View of the Property Tax," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 54(n. 1), pages 157-74, March.
    37. Kurt J. Beron & Wim P. M. Vijverberg, 2004. "Probit in a Spatial Context: A Monte Carlo Analysis," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Sergio J. Rey (ed.), Advances in Spatial Econometrics, chapter 8, pages 169-195, Springer.
    38. Sobel, Russell S. & King, Kerry A., 2008. "Does school choice increase the rate of youth entrepreneurship?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 429-438, August.
    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. Hall, Joshua C., 2015. "Local Government Border Congruence and the Fiscal Commons: Evidence from Ohio School Districts," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2).
    2. Joshua C. Hall & Serkan Karadas & Minh Tam T. Schlosky, 2016. "Spatial Spillover Effects of Debt Relief from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative," Working Papers 16-23, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    3. George Crowley, 2012. "Spatial dependence in constitutional constraints: the case of US states," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 134-165, June.
    4. Joshua C. Hall & Christopher Shultz & E. Frank Stephenson, 2018. "The political economy of local fracking bans," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(2), pages 397-408, April.
    5. Brasington, David & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Guci, Ledia, 2016. "A spatial model of school district open enrollment choice," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-18.
    6. Joshua C. Hall & Donald J. Lacombe & Timothy M. Shaughnessy, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Economic Growth Across U.S. States: A Spatial Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers 15-33, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    7. Sriparna Ghosh & Joshua C. Hall, 2018. "The Political Economy of Soda Taxation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 1045-1051.
    8. Michael Conlin & Paul N. Thompson, 2014. "Michigan and Ohio K–12 Educational Financing Systems: Equality and Efficiency," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 9(4), pages 417-445, October.
    9. Joshua C. Hall, 2013. "Does School District and Municipality Border Congruence Matter? A Spatial Hedonic Approach," Working Papers 13-02, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    10. Trang Hoang, 2022. "Fiscal competition and state pension reforms," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 41-70, September.
    11. Robert Lawson & Todd Nesbit, 2013. "Alchian and Allen Revisited: Law Enforcement and the Price of Weed," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 41(4), pages 363-370, December.
    12. Denvil Duncan & Ed Gerrish, 2014. "Personal income tax mimicry: evidence from international panel data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(1), pages 119-152, February.
    13. Joshua Hall & Antonis Koumpias, 2015. "The Volatility of School District Income Tax Revenues: Is Tax Base Diversification a Good Idea?," Working Papers 15-14, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    14. James LeSage & Matthew Dominguez, 2012. "The importance of modeling spatial spillovers in public choice analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 525-545, March.
    15. Dean Stansel, 2012. "Competition, knowledge, and local government," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 243-253, September.
    16. Joylynn Pruitt & Joshua C. Hall, 2017. "Are state governments revenue maximizers? Evidence from the sales tax," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(4), pages 2945-2950.
    17. Donald J. Lacombe & James P. LeSage, 2018. "Use and interpretation of spatial autoregressive probit models," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(1), pages 1-24, January.

    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. Fuess, Roland & Lerbs, Oliver, 2017. "Do Local Governments Tax Homeowner Communities Differently?," Working Papers on Finance 1714, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    2. Lars P Feld, 2004. "On Tax Competition: The (Un-)Expected Advantages of Decentralized Fiscal Autonomy," Marburg Working Papers on Economics 200425, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Roland Füss & Oliver Lerbs, 2017. "Homeowner Effect and Strategic Interaction in Local Property Taxation," ERES eres2017_149, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    4. George Crowley & Russell Sobel, 2011. "Does fiscal decentralization constrain Leviathan? New evidence from local property tax competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 5-30, October.
    5. Lars P. Feld, 2006. "Regulatory Competition and Federalism in Switzerland: Diffusion by Horizontal and Vertical Interaction," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-22, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    6. Millimet, Daniel L. & Rangaprasad, Vasudha, 2007. "Strategic competition amongst public schools," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 199-219, March.
    7. David J. Schwegman & John Yinger, 2020. "The Shifting of the Property Tax on Urban Renters: Evidence from New York State’s Homestead Tax Option," Working Papers 20-43, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Dean Stansel, 2012. "Competition, knowledge, and local government," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 243-253, September.
    9. Jørn Rattsø & Jon Hernes Fiva, 2005. "Decentralization with Property Taxation to Improve Incentives: Evidence from Local Governments’ Discrete Choice," Working Paper Series 5305, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, revised 02 Sep 2005.
    10. Di Porto Edoardo & Revelli Federico, 2009. "Central Command, Local Hazard and the Race to the Top," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 200909, University of Turin.
    11. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:8:y:2006:i:12:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Millimet, Daniel L. & Collier, Trevor, 2008. "Efficiency in public schools: Does competition matter?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 134-157, July.
    13. Di Porto Edoardo & Revelli Federico, 2009. "Central Command, Local Hazard and the Race to the Top," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 200909, University of Turin.
    14. Joshua Hall, 2006. "Fiscal competition and tax instrument choice: the role of income inequality," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8.
    15. Zodrow, George R, 2003. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 651-671, November.
    16. Benoît Le Maux, 2009. "Governmental behavior in representative democracy: a synthesis of the theoretical literature," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 447-465, December.
    17. Małkowska, Agnieszka & Telega, Agnieszka & Głuszak, Michał & Marona, Bartłomiej, 2021. "Spatial diversification of property tax policy – Searching for yardstick competition in Polish metropolitan areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    18. Lars Feld, 2014. "James Buchanan’s theory of federalism: from fiscal equity to the ideal political order," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 231-252, September.
    19. Boadway, Robin & Tremblay, Jean-François, 2012. "Reassessment of the Tiebout model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1063-1078.
    20. Laurie Bates & Rexford Santerre, 2006. "Leviathan in the Crosshairs," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 133-145, April.
    21. Borge, Lars-Erik & Rattsø, Jørn, 2008. "Property taxation as incentive for cost control: Empirical evidence for utility services in Norway," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 1035-1054, August.

    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:sae:pubfin:v:38:y:2010:i:6:p:710-737. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.