A Filtering Model with Steady-State Housing

This paper presents a filtering model of the housing market which is similar to Sweeney's (1974b), except that the maintenance technology is such that housing can be maintained at a constant quality level as well as downgraded, and population at each income level grows continuously over time. In equilibrium, at each moment of time, some housing is allowed to deteriorate in quality, and other housing is maintained in a steady-state interval of qualities.filtering, housing, maintenance

The development and critical review of annual stock and gross investment data for residential energy-using capital

The purpose of this paper is to develop pooled time-series cross-sectional stock and gross investment data for residential energy-using capital by state over the period 1960 to 1974. In the process of doing so, it is necessary to examine theoretical issues and empirical techniques, and to evaluate the accuracy of data sources currently available. One section of the paper is devoted to a careful theoretical and empirical discussion of appliance depreciation rates and their relationship to average appliance lifetimes. Another discusses benchmarking techniques and the conditions under which they are liable to be effective. The remainder of the paper concerns the development and evaluation of the actual data series. Whereas most of the discussion focuses on household appliances, the techniques discussed, evaluated, and utilized should be of wider interest. Similar techniques will allow construction of accurate gross investment data for household heating equipment.Sponsored by the Dept. of Energy under Contract no. EX-76-A-01-2295

Sales Tax Competition and a Multinational with a Decreasing Marginal Cost

We examine a multinational firm which has a decreasing marginal cost, and the optimal sales tax policies of the regions where that firm operates. We show that the regions set higher sales taxes than those given by a cooperative equilibrium. Each region fails to fully internalize the effects of its tax level on another region's welfare and the incentives for that region's authority. Exponential cost functions which exhibit economies of scale (for example Cobb-Douglas) and linear demand functions satisfy our assumptions. Our results suggest the need to coordinate sales tax levels between countries and between smaller entities, like states in the United States. Smaller regions benefit more from such coordination. Lowering sales taxes in each region increases welfare for all regions, profits for firms, and consumer welfare