New Book: The Tiebout Model at Fifty (Land Lines Article)

Essays in Public Economics in Honor of Wallace Oates

Editor(s): Fischel, William A.
Publication Date: July 2006

Inventory ID LLA060706; English

Article

The Tiebout Model at Fifty commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Charles Tiebout’s enormously influential 1956 article, “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures,” and honors the contributions of Wallace Oates as expositor and popularizer of the Tiebout model. While Tiebout’s hypothesis is the touchstone for the economic analysis of local government, Oates gave the theory empirical content and brought the idea into the realm of public economics.

This insightful volume is edited by William A. Fischel, who also organized the conference in June 2005 at which the papers and commentaries were first presented. The conference was cosponsored by the Lincoln Institute and the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Social Studies at Dartmouth College.

In his Preface, Fischel states that Tiebout’s paper is the single most influential article in the field of public economics, at least if one measures influence by citations in scholarly journals. Tiebout proposed an alternative to the political process for determining the demand for local public goods. Households would reveal their preferences by choosing their residence among local governments. People would “vote with their feet” (not Tiebout’s term) instead of the ballot box, choosing the desired level of services among the many local governments that make up most American metropolitan areas. Tiebout’s is that rare paper whose influence has broadened with the passage of time.

The book reprints Tiebout’s classic paper, and several distinguished chapter authors and commentators evaluate the model’s ongoing influence on the disciplines of economics, law, and political science. Others present original scholarly research in the Tiebout-Oates tradition. They illuminate public policy issues such as exclusionary zoning, tax competition, school choice, constitutional federalism, fiscal equalization, and real estate capitalization.

Contents
A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures, Charles M. Tiebout

Footloose at Fifty: An Introduction to the Tiebout Anniversary Essays, William A. Fischel

The Many Faces of the Tiebout Model, Wallace E. Oates
Commentary, Robert Inman

California's School Finance Reform: An Experiment in Fiscal Federalism, Eric J. Brunner and Jon Sonstelie
Commentary, David Figlio

School Choice, Parental Information, and Tiebout Sorting: Evidence from Washington, DC, Jack Buckley and Mark Schneider
Commentary, Therese McGuire

Imperfect Competition Between Communities, Politics, and Capitalization, William H. Hoyt
Commentary, Robert M. Schwab

Exclusion's Attraction: Land Use Controls in Tieboutian Perspective, Lee Anne Fennell
Commentary, Robert C. Ellickson

Nonfiscal Residential Zoning, Stephen Calabrese, Dennis Epple, and Richard Romano
Commentary, Thomas J. Nechyba

Compared to What? Tiebout and the Comparative Merits of Congress and the States in Constitutional Federalism, Roderick M. Hills Jr.
Commentary, Clayton P. Gillette

The Law of Demand in Tiebout Economics, Edward Cartwright, John P. Conley, and Myrna Wooders
Commentary, Jan K. Brueckner

Tiebout—Stability and Efficiency: The Examples of Australia and South Africa, Jeffrey Petchey and Perry Shapiro
Commentary, Harold M. Hochman

About the Editor
William A. Fischel, a professor in the Dartmouth College Economics Department since 1973, was named the Patricia F and William B. Hale '44 Professor in Arts and Sciences in 2002. His research focuses on the law and economics of regulatory takings and on the economics of local government, especially the Tiebout model, zoning, property taxation, and school finance. He is the author of The Homevoter Hypothesis, The Economics of Zoning Laws, and Regulatory Takings.

The Tiebout Model at Fifty: Essays in Public Economics in Honor of Wallace Oates
Edited by William A. Fischel
Published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
2006. 368 pages. $30.00 (paper)
ISBN 1-55844-165-4

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