PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Thiess Buettner
TI  - Taxation, Fiscal Redistribution and Local Land Use Regulation
AID  - 10.3368/le.99.4.072222-0059R
DP  - 2023 Apr 21
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 072222-0059R
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/04/13/le.99.4.072222-0059R.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/04/13/le.99.4.072222-0059R.full
AB  - This paper explores the role of fiscal institutions for local land use. It argues that tax-base mobility results in an incentive to expand commercial and residential land use, which is mitigated by fiscal redistribution. These predictions are investigated empirically using a dataset of German municipalities. To identify differences in the exposure to fiscal redistribution, I exploit institutional characteristics of fiscal-equalization grants using a regression-discontinuity analysis. The results support the role of fiscal incentives for local land-use regulation, as commercial and residential land use is expanded much faster, and agricultural land use declines more rapidly in municipalities exempted from fiscal redistribution.