The Lincoln Institute’s C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Program assists PhD students whose research complements the institute’s interest in property valuation and taxation. The program provides an important link between the institute’s educational mission and its research objectives by supporting scholars early in their careers.
The Lincoln Institute provides a variety of early- and mid-career research and fellowship opportunities. In this series, we follow up with past participants to learn more about their work.
Ryan M. Gallagher is an urban economist. But his latest research is increasingly concerned with areas outside the city—because in modern America, that’s where so much of the action has taken place. “Central cities are interesting, don’t get me wrong. But they already tend to be the focus of a lot of research,” says Gallagher, an associate professor of economics at Northeastern Illinois University. “And if you look at postwar America, most of the growth was in suburbia.”
Gallagher, who earned his PhD in economics from the University of Illinois Chicago, was awarded a David C. Lincoln Fellowship in 2015. The program supports scholars and practitioners conducting new research on land value taxation and its applications.
In this interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, Gallagher shares what he’s learned about the evolution of suburban zoning, explains why urban economics is more relevant to people’s lives than they tend to realize, and ponders whether urban housing markets in Northern Ireland are still impacted by the legacy of decades of conflict.
JON GOREY: You’re an applied microeconomist—can you explain how that differs from macroeconomics?
RYAN GALLAGHER: This is what I tell my students: Microeconomics deals with the economic implications of individual behaviors, or the incentives that drive individual economic behaviors. Whereas macroeconomics deals more with economic aggregates—inflation, recession, economic growth, the unemployment rate. I’m an urban economist, so we deal with how we allocate scarce collective resources across space, and what the implications of that might be. Some of the work that I’ve done in the past is on the impact of house size or zoning regulations on the fiscal viability of properties from a local public finance perspective—and that all kind of falls within the realm of microeconomics, because you’re talking about the incentives that local home builders face, and what the implications are for local public decision-makers. That’s all microeconomics, because we’re talking about how folks behave in response to environmental changes.
JG: What was the focus of your Lincoln Institute fellowship?
RG: I had been doing a little bit of research, with colleagues at Howard University and the University of Illinois Chicago, looking into the role that households without children play in redistributing resources within a public education system funded by property taxes. And we showed reasonably that education property taxes can be quite redistributive away from folks who don’t have children and towards folks who do have children within a local school district. . . . And that got me thinking about home size. Because historically, going back to the ’70s and the Tiebout model, there’s this belief, at least in economics, that small homes were kind of a fiscal burden on municipalities, based on the logic that they have less value and generate less tax revenue. And what I was trying to investigate was that, wait, folks in small homes probably have fewer kids, or they’re just smaller households in general. So I started looking at the value per person that a property generates. And my preliminary evidence suggested that small homes and apartments, as an aggregate group, actually had a higher per capita value, which suggested that the logic was actually flipped—that smaller dwellings, on average, were a fiscal boon to these property tax–funded systems, that maybe we’ve been approaching this problem all wrong.
Small houses: fiscal burden or fiscal boon? Credit: wanderluster via iStock/Getty Images.
The Lincoln Institute fellowship supported two published papers, one on small homes in general, and then I transitioned to looking at the implications of zoning laws. Do communities that are overly restrictive with their lot sizes—meaning they require large lot sizes, and as a consequence they prevent small homes and apartments—find themselves at a fiscal disadvantage, are they shooting themselves in the foot? A lot of folks that live in apartments and small dwellings are single people, or couples without kids, or elderly folks. They’re putting a lot of property tax money into the system and not drawing a lot out.
So I investigated zoning laws in Massachusetts . . . looking across space to see whether there was a big jump across boundaries in property tax value per person as zoning laws became more or less restrictive. And I showed in the second paper that within a municipality in Massachusetts, as you cross a zoning boundary from an area that’s more to less restrictive, you would see a higher property tax base on a per capita basis in the less restrictive area.
JG: What have you been working on lately, and what are you interested in working on next?
RG: Something that’s really missing from the literature, both for planners and for economists alike, is a detailed, digitized historical archive of the evolution of land use zoning over time within suburbia. So for Cook County—that’s where Chicago is, it’s the second-largest county population-wise in the country, and we have an immense number of municipalities—I started to digitize the history of each suburb’s zoning ordinance over time, starting in 1940.
It’s been a massive undertaking, and I was able to digitize most of the evolution of the suburban zoning environment for Cook County from 1940 to 1950 to 1960. Then I teamed up with Allison Shertzer, who’s now at the Philadelphia Fed, and Tate Twinam, who’s at William and Mary, and we’re now pushing this digitization project into 1970. We’re looking at how zoning laws impacted urban form within suburbia, and the built environment in particular—what would things have looked like if there hadn’t been zoning? And this is really, really tricky, because the role that real estate developers play is oftentimes overlooked.
These images from Ryan Gallagher’s annexation project both show the evolution of municipal growth in Cook County, Illinois, broken into pre- and postwar eras. The image on the right includes an overlay of Gallagher’s sample points of observation. Credit: Courtesy of Ryan Gallagher.
We’re focusing on the evolution of minimum lot sizes. But the lot size is put in place when the land is platted, not when the home is built. This is really important, because zoning laws might very well just follow the preexisting built environment, and that makes a lot of sense. I mean, if I’m a city planner or a city councilor, and I’m thinking about passing a zoning ordinance, I’m going to say, ‘Okay, well, we should probably follow what’s already there.’ So in that case, it’s not really zoning that’s having the impact on the built environment, it’s the opposite: It’s the built environment that preexisted zoning that’s really impacting zoning and future building projects.
I’ve got some other projects that are looking at municipal formation and annexation. I’m tracking the value of a parcel of land every year from 1946 to 1969 across suburban Cook County for multiple parcels, and I’m looking at how the value responds to being annexed by a local municipality. It’s all very preliminary, but I’m finding that when land is incorporated into a taxing body, that has a huge impact on the land’s value.
I’ve got another paper that I’m working on with someone from the University of Illinois, on the role of newly incorporated suburbs, and what role they play in the fiscal fabric of a metropolitan area. . . .
What we’re finding—this is very preliminary—is that the newer suburbs tend to tax far, far less than the older suburbs do, and they provide, as a consequence, fewer services . . . and in that respect, they provide an option for folks that are looking for that type of a lifestyle. If you go to a lot of these suburbs, they don’t have sidewalks . . . it’s a low-cost, low-service environment. Maybe they have a library, maybe they don’t. I think the role of these newer incorporated towns and cities, especially on the urban fringe, is underexplored and worth investigating.
JG: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve found in your research?
RG: One thing that surprised me is how busy our inner-ring suburbs have been, and how strategic they’ve been, at building out their borders. . . . It’s not big tracts of land, it’s more a question of, ‘Should we annex this lot versus that lot?’ So I was fascinated by how much nuance there was and how much intricate detail and surveying work is involved behind the scenes in urban growth. I’ve really gained an appreciation for all the local public servants who are in charge of maintaining all this.
When we look at urban growth, the role that private, profit-motivated real estate developers play in growing the metropolitan area and determining its built environment has also surprised me. Sifting through all these plats, you really see how each subdivider had their own vision. If you drive through some suburban neighborhood or community that has sprawled, if you really pay attention, you can see where one subdivision stopped and where a different subdivider picked up, because the homes are maybe a little bit smaller, a little bit bigger . . . there are these invisible boundaries that most of us probably don’t pay attention to. You’ll see huge class differences across these boundaries. These aren’t zoning boundaries, these aren’t political boundaries. But you can see the change in the demographic, how that impacted the urban landscape, spatially speaking, and that’s fascinating.
JG: What do you wish more people knew about urban economics?
RG: Zoning, in particular, has been very topical for the last decade, and urban economists have been interviewed a bit more in the press in response to that. As well as the pandemic, and the move to Zoom, where people were like, ‘Are cities just going to disappear?’ These are the two areas where I’ve seen urban economics really make it into the popular press in my lifetime. But we do so much more. I think the research and work being done by urban economists—and local public finance folks are included in that category—is really important to how a lot of us live.
Macroeconomists are always being interviewed about interest rates and money supply and recessions and depressions, and that’s all important stuff, of course. But I think what we do as urban economists—and I get that a lot of it’s kind of high-minded, academic ivory tower stuff—the questions that we’re asking, and the problems that we’re trying to help solve, probably have a more direct impact on the lives of the average urban resident, on their quality of life. I think if people paid more attention to what we’re doing and the problems that we’re trying to investigate, they would find that this is a very, very fruitful and impactful area of research.
JG: What’s the best book you’ve read lately?
Two books I’ve read recently that were quite good are Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike, and We Don’t Know Ourselves. Both are about Irish history. I’m not sure how comfortable everyone would be reading the first book, but I enjoyed it. Anyone who studies the conflict in Northern Ireland would find it very interesting, but I recognize that the subject matter is controversial.
To tie this back to urban economics, I’m really interested in what impact, if any, the physical barriers in cities like Belfast and Derry have had on urban economy and growth. They don’t fight the way they used to, of course, but there’s still discomfort. And so the question is, you’ve got a growing Catholic population on one side, you’ve got a relatively stagnant, give or take, more Protestant population on the other side of these barriers, and if they’re unwilling to live amongst one another, what does that do to housing price pressures? If there’s available housing on the Protestant side for this growing Catholic population, but they’re unwilling to live there, does that put more pressure on housing prices on the Catholic side?
Now, these are just ideas, it’s been hard to get data on stuff like this. But I’m a Gallagher, my mom’s and my dad’s families both came from the north, so it’s kind of a passion project. I think it’d be really interesting if someone could show what the implications are for these relatively firm neighborhood boundaries.
Jon Gorey is a staff writer at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Lead image: Urban economist Ryan Gallagher. Credit: Courtesy photo.
Eventos
2024 Urban Economics and Public Finance Conference
Abril 19, 2024 - Abril 20, 2024
Cambridge, MA United States
Offered in inglés
Speakers: Abby Ostriker, Anna Russo, C. Luke Watson, Nathan Seegert, Mark Skidmore, Camila Alvayay-Torrejónon, Erin Troland, and Brent Ambrose
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The economic growth and development of urban areas are closely linked to local fiscal conditions. This research seminar offers a forum for new academic work on the interaction of these two areas. It provides an opportunity for specialists in each area to become better acquainted with recent developments and to explore their potential implications for synergy.
Detalles
Fecha(s)
Abril 19, 2024 - Abril 20, 2024
Time
8:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. (EDT, UTC-4)
Location
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Cambridge, MA United States
desarrollo económico, economía, vivienda, inequidad, uso de suelo, planificación de uso de suelo, valor del suelo, tributación del valor del suelo, gobierno local, tributación inmobilaria, finanzas públicas, orden espacial, tributación, urbano, valuación, impuesto a base de valores
Oportunidades de becas de posgrado
2024 C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Program
The Lincoln Institute’s C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Program assists PhD students whose research complements the institute’s interest in valuation and taxation. The program provides an important link between the institute’s educational mission and its research objectives by supporting scholars early in their careers.
The application deadline is 6 p.m. EST on March 1, 2024.
Detalles
Submission Deadline
March 1, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Descargas
Palabras clave
regulación del mercado de suelo, valor del suelo, tributación del valor del suelo, impuesto a base de suelo, gobierno local, tributación inmobilaria, tributación, valuación, impuesto a base de valores
Solicitud de propuestas
Research on Municipal Fiscal Health and Land Policies
The submission deadline has been extended from January 29 to February 5, 2024.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy invites proposals for original research that can be applied to address the challenge of promoting the fiscal health of municipal governments in a range of contexts and institutional settings across the world. We are particularly interested in research that explores the ways sound urban planning, land-based taxation, and economic development combine with disciplined financial management to promote prosperous, sustainable, equitable, and fiscally healthy communities.
Research proposed should examine some of the most pressing questions that local officials around the world are confronting in the fiscal policy arena, with an emphasis on the implications for local land policy and planning decisions.
Detalles
Submission Deadline
February 5, 2024 at 11:59 PM
Palabras clave
desarrollo, desarrollo económico, vivienda, infraestructura, planificación de uso de suelo, valor del suelo, tributación del valor del suelo, impuesto a base de suelo, gobierno local, salud fiscal municipal, tributación inmobilaria, finanzas públicas, políticas públicas, desarrollo urbano, recuperación de plusvalías, impuesto a base de valores, zonificación
Otros eventos
2023 Journalists Forum
Noviembre 17, 2023 - Noviembre 18, 2023
Cambridge, MA United States
Offered in inglés
Partners: TD Charitable Foundation and Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
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The Lincoln Institute’s 2023 Journalists Forum, held November 17–18 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, explored innovations in housing affordability. Access to affordable housing has become a central issue of our times, with overburdened renters, yawning gaps in ownership rates between minority and white households, and a demand for housing that far outstrips the supply. Journalists covering housing were invited to step back and consider the often-underreported fundamental elements driving the affordability crisis, especially as they relate to land use management and fiscal and financial systems. Over the course of two days, participants explored current policy interventions, innovative solutions, and emergent debates that go to the root causes of the current housing crisis. The Journalist Forum resources are available as an online library.
As more states from California to Connecticut pursue statewide zoning reform and face backlash by local governments seeking to retain control over land use, it is important to explore: What are the challenges facing states that seek to implement statewide land use reform? What do we know about the effects of changing land use regulations on housing supply and housing prices? When can we realistically expect to observe the results of these policies on the ground?
Speakers
Jessie Grogan, associate director, Reduced Poverty and Spatial Inequality, Lincoln Institute
Cities are considering the effects of their tax systems on housing affordability. In Detroit, a land value tax has been proposed to lower residential taxes and encourage development. A well-functioning property tax based on market value might play a similar role in other jurisdictions. The design of property tax relief programs and homestead exemptions also has important implications for affordability.
Speakers
Jay Rising, chief financial officer, City of Detroit
Private sector actors are purchasing residential properties at significant rates, especially in cities with traditionally weak real estate markets. Affordable housing advocates seek to analyze who is buying up local properties, when, where, and over what period, to inform a series of real estate, capital, and other interventions. This session looks at attempts to manage institutional investors who are buying, flipping, or charging often-high rents for properties in legacy cities and elsewhere, using data available through new mapping tools; with special attention to the case study of Cincinnati, where bond financing was used to purchase nearly 200 fixer-uppers, outbidding outside investors.
Chris Herbert, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University
State of the Nation’s Housing Design
Speakers
Dan D’Oca, Harvard University Graduate School of Design–Joint Center for Housing Studies
Innovations in Financing
After the Community Reinvestment Act and the financial crisis of 2008, a reset has been in the works for both individuals and neighborhoods to access capital, to help close the racial homeownership gap. Should homeownership be so actively encouraged? Will tweaks to the home financing system really have impact? What role can mortgage markets play in facilitating access to housing for households with lower incomes?
Speakers
Jim Gray, senior fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition and Innovations in Manufactured Homes Network (I’m HOME) program
Chrystal Kornegay, MassHousing
Majurial (MJ) Watkins, community mortgage sales manager, TD Bank
Chris Herbert, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University
Proposals and Provocations: A Discussion with the Lincoln Institute
This session synthesizes the approaches the Lincoln Institute is currently taking to help address the housing affordability crisis in the United States. Lincoln Institute staff present key ideas of our work at the intersection of land and housing, and provoke a conversation by asking the audience: What will it take to cover these issues? How do we make them accessible to large and diverse audiences? What topics or angles might be missing in our work?
The Federal Government’s Role: Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition, I’m HOME (manufactured homes)—Arica Young
Capital Absorption as a Platform in Housing for Racial Equity and Health—Omar Carrillo Tinajero, director of partnerships and initiatives, Center for Community Investment
Greening Without Displacement—Amy Cotter, director, Climate Strategies
Moderator: David Luberoff, Joint Center for Housing Studies
Traditional concluding roundtable of journalists talking about the challenges of covering housing; looking ahead to new frameworks and narratives, storytelling methods, and better use of data and graphics.
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 113 Brattle Street Cambridge, MA United States
Idioma
inglés
Palabras clave
desarrollo comunitario, vivienda, banco de tierras, fideicomiso de suelo, uso de suelo, planificación de uso de suelo, valor del suelo, tributación del valor del suelo, impuesto a base de suelo, gobierno local, mapeo, planificación, tributación inmobilaria, reutilización de suelo urbano, desajuste espacial, partes interesadas, desarrollo sostenible, desarrollo orientado a transporte, diseño urbano, desarrollo urbano, regeneración urbana
Curso
Máster en Políticas de Suelo y Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible
Enero 15, 2024 - Marzo 19, 2025
Ofrecido en español
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El máster en Políticas de Suelo y Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible es un programa académico online en español que reúne de manera única los marcos legales y herramientas que sostienen la planificación urbana, junto con instrumentos fiscales, ambientales y de participación, desde una perspectiva internacional y comparada. El programa está dirigido especialmente a estudiantes de posgrado y otros graduados con interés en políticas urbanas desde una perspectiva jurídica, ambiental y de procesos de participación, así como a funcionarios públicos. Los participantes del máster recibirán el entrenamiento teórico y técnico para liderar la implementación de medidas que permitan la transformación sostenible de las ciudades.
El programa fue pensado de manera modular: los participantes pueden elegir realizar uno, dos o tres módulos, cada uno de los cuales otorga el diploma de experto universitario. Si llevan a cabo los tres módulos y finalizan con éxito el programa de fin de máster, obtienen el título de máster de formación permanente, otorgado por UNED.
Detalles
Fecha(s)
Enero 15, 2024 - Marzo 19, 2025
Registration Period
Septiembre 11, 2023 - Noviembre 30, 2023
Idioma
español
Tipo de certificado o crédito
Lincoln Institute certificate
Palabras clave
mitigación climática, desarrollo, resolución de conflictos, gestión ambiental, zonificación excluyente, Favela, Henry George, mercados informales de suelo, infraestructura, regulación del mercado de suelo, especulación del suelo, uso de suelo, planificación de uso de suelo, valor del suelo, tributación del valor del suelo, impuesto a base de suelo, gobierno local, mediación, salud fiscal municipal, planificación, tributación inmobilaria, finanzas públicas, políticas públicas, regímenes regulatorios, resiliencia, reutilización de suelo urbano, desarrollo urbano, urbanismo, recuperación de plusvalías
Oportunidades de becas
China Program International Fellowship 2024-25
Submission Deadline:
November 30, 2023 at 11:59 PM
The Lincoln Institute’s China program invites applications for the annual International Fellowship Program. The program seeks applications from academic researchers working on the following topics in China:
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future of cities;
Climate change and cities;
Urban development trends and patterns;
Urban regeneration;
Municipal finance and land value capture;
Land policies;
Housing policies;
Urban environment and health; and
Land and water conservation.
The fellowship aims to promote international scholarly dialogue on China’s urban development and land policy, and to further the Lincoln Institute’s objective to advance land policy solutions to economic, social, and environmental challenges. The fellowship is provided to scholars who are based outside mainland China. Visit the website of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (Beijing) to learn about a separate fellowship for scholars based in mainland China.
Application period: September 29 to November 30, 2023, 11:59 p.m. EST.