Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name:  Dietz Vollrath
Author-X-Name-First: Dietz
Author-X-Name-Last: Vollrath
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Houston
Author-Email:devollrath@uh.edu
Title: Wealth Distribution and the Provision of Public Goods: Evidence from the United States
Abstract: This paper examines the role of inequality in the provision of public goods. County level data
from the U.S. in 1890 provides comparable units of analysis operating with similar property tax systems, ensuring that we do not empirically confuse 
differences in tax systems with differences in public goods provision. Climatic data is used as an instrument for land inequality
to provide identification of the effect of inequality. The results indicate that land inequality
caused significantly lower overall property tax rates. This effect is driven almost exclusively
by the effect of land inequality on taxes related directly to schooling. In contrast, non-school
funding was not significantly affected by inequality. While informative about the effect of land
inequality on public goods provision, an examination of the details of the tax system suggests
that these results should not necessarily be taken as a rejection of median voter predictions.
Length:  42 pages
Creation-Date:  2008-11
File-URL: http://www.uh.edu/econpapers/RePEc/hou/wpaper/2008-04.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: 2008-04
Classification-JEL:  O13, N51, Q15
Keywords: Land distribution, Inequality, Public Goods, Property Taxes
Handle: RePEc:hou:wpaper:2008-04