Published and Forthcoming Papers

The Micro-Empirics of Collective Action: The Case of Business Improvement Districts
[paper]
forthcoming, Journal of Public Economics .
joint with William Strange

The Cabals of a Few or the Confusion of a Multitude: The Institutional Trade-off Between Representation and Governance
[paper]
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2011 3 (1), 1-24.
joint with Maxim Sinitsyn and Justin Phillips

Does a Rising Tide Compensate for the Secession of the Successful? Illustrating the Effects of Business Improvement Districts on Municipal Coffers
[paper]
in The Changing Landscape of Local Public Revenues, Cambridge: Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, 2010.
joint with Rachel Meltzer

An Institutional Explanation for the Stickiness of Federal Grants
[paper] [journal format]
Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Spring 2010 (forthcoming) 26(1).
Joint with Justin Phillips

Volunteering To Be Taxed: Business Improvement Districts and the Extra-Governmental Provision of Public Safety
[paper] [journal format] [online appendix]
Journal of Public Economics, January 2008 92(1-2), 388-406.

Unveiling Hidden Districts: Assessing the Adoption Patterns of Business Improvement Districts in California
[paper] [journal format]
National Tax Journal, March 2007 60(1), 5-24.

Does Spatial Variation in Heterogeneity Matter? Assessing the Adoption Patterns of Business Improvement Districts
[paper] [journal format]
Review of Policy Research, November 2006 23(6), 1219-1233.

Working Papers

Constraining the Local Leviathan? The Existence and Effectiveness of Municipally-Imposed Tax and Expenditure Limits
[paper]
joint with Justin Phillips
Last revised July 2010.
Published as a Lincoln Institute for Land Policy Working Paper
Article in Land Lines describing this for an audience of urban planners and other practitioners.
Article in State Tax Notes, November 16, 2009, describing findings for lawyers and tax professionals

Sclerosis of the City: Inefficiency and the Assembly of Urban Land
[paper]
joint with Byron Lutz

Work in Progress

Capitalizing on Collective Action: Business Improvement Districts and Property Values in Los Angeles
joint with Claire Brennecke

Where does the Bucket Leak? Sending Money to the Poor via the Community Development Block Grant Program
joint with Maxim Sinitsyn

Valuing the Importance of Formal Institutions: Cities and Governance Quality in the Longer Run
data collection in progress

Other Writing

Comments on Ellen, Schwartz and Voicu, "The Impact of Business Improvement Districts on Property Values: Evidence from New York City"
[paper] [journal format]
Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 2007

Challenges in Defense Working Capital Fund Pricing: Analysis of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Rand Monograph Report, 2003
joint with Edward Keating, Susan Gates, Christopher Paul, Aimee Bower, and Jennifer Pace