Overlapping Jurisdictions and the Provision of Local Public Goods in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

• In Event: Tax Competition and Fiscal Externalities

Abstract

Local governments in the United States are vertically differentiated. A typical location is served by multiple overlapping jurisdictions that share property tax base and specialize in the provision of one or more local public goods. This paper evaluates the implications of such vertical differentiation for the equilibrium levels of government spending, property tax rates, and household welfare. I propose a spatial theory of overlapping jurisdictions in which residents collectively determine the local mix of expenditures and taxes. Because fiscal policy capitalizes into housing prices and all jurisdictions draw revenue from housing, the cost of raising expenditures in a location is implicitly shared with other coexisting jurisdictions. In equilibrium, this induces higher levels of government spending, higher property tax rates, and lower household welfare compared to scenarios in which jurisdictions are vertically coterminous or only horizontally differentiated.

Author

• Francesco Ruggieri, ruggieri.francesco@outlook.com