We study recent changes in the geographic distances between small businesses and their bank lenders, using a large random sample of loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. Consistent with extant research, we find that small borrower-lender distances generally increased between...

This paper reviews estimators for multiple regime selection models, which include the standard urban bid-rent model as a special case. Ellickson's (4) probabilistic bid-rent model imposes a restrictive selection process, while existing two- stage multiple regime estimators assume an error...

We use a semiparametric estimator to analyze the relationship between land values and parcel size in a sample of 158 undeveloped parcels in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The semiparametric estimator combines the benefits of parametric and nonparametric estimation. The value-size...

Locally weighted regression estimates are presented for Chicago using data from 1836 to 1990. The results demonstrate that nonparametric estimators are useful for hypothesis testing as well as prediction. Estimated regression surfaces for 1836-1928 demonstrate that the monocentric city model...

A recent policy change caps the annual percentage increase in the assessed value of owner–occupied homes in Cook County, Illinois. Assuming that total revenue would remain constant, the result is relief for some financed by higher taxes on others. We estimate these tax burden shifts using data...

Dick Netzer, a leading public finance economist specializing in state and local issues and urban government, brings together in this comprehensive volume essays by top scholars connecting the property tax with land use. They explore the idea that the property tax is used as a partial substitute...

The City of Chicago and the inner suburbs grew much more slowly than the outer suburbs in recent decades. In the central county of the metropolitan area, commercial and industrial property is "classified," in that it is assessed at a higher ratio of market value than residential property....