Wallace Oates

Distinguished University Professor

Biography

Wallace Oates is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and a University Fellow at Resources for the Future. He received his PhD in economics at Stanford in 1965 and joined the faculty at Princeton University. He began at Maryland in 1979. He teaches in the areas of public economics and environmental economics.

His primary research interests are public finance and environmental economics. Since his first book, Fiscal Federalism (1972), he has explored the assignment of functions to different levels of government in a federal system, the provision of local public goods, the design of intergovernmental grants, and the structure of local revenue systems. He worked on these matters with urban groups, the European Union, the OECD, and various federal and state agencies in the United States.

His central environmental economics interest is in the use of economic incentives for environmental management. In numerous writings including The Theory of Environmental Policy (1975, revised edition 1988), with William Baumol, he studied the design and implementation of taxes on polluting activities and systems of tradable emissions allowances. He worked on the design of regulatory programs for pollution control with the U.S. EPA, the OECD, and other federal and state agencies. He served on the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee for the EPA.

Areas of Interest:
public finance and environmental economics

Published Papers

Date	Title
January 1, 1992	Environmental Economics: A Survey with Cropper, Maureen Journal of Economic Literature, 30 (1992), 675-740. Reprinted in Economics of the Environmen, Selected Readings, Fourth Edition, Editor Robert N. Stavins, New York: W.W. Norton (2000).

Working Papers

Date	Title
April 1, 2007	Decentralization in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Lessons for Global Policy with Kruger, J.; Pizer, W. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol. 1. (Spring 2007)
January 1, 2006	The Many Faces of the Tiebout Model In W. Fischel, ed., The Tiebout Model at Fifty: Essays in Public Economics in Honor of Wallace Oates (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Insitutue of Land Policy, 2006), pp. 28-45.
January 1, 2005	Property Taxation and Local Public Spending: The Renter Effect Journal of Urban Economics (2005) 57, pp. 419-431.
January 1, 2005	Toward a Second-Generation Theory of Fiscal Federalism International Tax and Public Finance (August 2005) 12, pp. 349-374.
January 1, 2004	What Should Local Governments Tax: Income or Property? with Schwab, Robert M.; Schwartz, A. (ed.) City Taxes, City Spending: Essays in Honor of Dick Netzer (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2004), pp. 7-29.
January 1, 2003	The Political Economy of Environmental Policy with Portney, P. in K.G. Maler and J. Vincent, eds., Handbook of Environmental Economics (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2003), pp. 325-354.
January 1, 2002	A Reconsideration of Environmental Federalism In J. List and A. de Zeeuw, eds., Recent Advances in Environmental Economics (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2002), pp. 1-32.
September 1, 2000	Policy Analysis in the Presence of Distorting Taxes with Parry, I. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (Fall 2000), 19, pp. 603-613; Reprinted in L. Goulder, ed., Environmental Policy Making in Economies With Prior Tax Distortions (Cheltenham U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2002), pp. 3-13.
January 1, 2000	From Research to Policy: The Case of Environmental Economics University of Illinois Law Review, No. 1, 2000, pp. 135-153. Reprinted in the International Journal of Urban Sciences, 4 (1), 2000, pp. 1-15. Reprinted in R. Stavins, ed., The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2004), pp. 514-532.
September 1, 1999	An Essay on Fiscal Federalism Journal of Economic Literature (Sept. 1999), 37, pp. 1120-1149. Reprinted in S. James, ed., Taxation: Critical Perspectives on the World Economy, Vol. I (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 373-409. Reprinted in M. Baimbridge and P. Whyman, eds., Fiscal Federalism and European Economic Integration (London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 13-47. Reprinted in P. Cheshire and G. Duranton, eds., Recent Developments in Urban and Regional Economics (Aldershot, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2005).
January 1, 1998	The Impact of the New Deal on American Federalism with Wallis, John Joseph; NULL Bordo, Goldin, and White, ed. The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century, NBER, University of Chicago Press, 1998.
March 1, 1997	The Impact of Urban Land Taxation: The Pittsburgh Experience with Schwab, Robert M. National Tax Journal (Mar 1997), 50, pp. 1-22.
January 1, 1997	On the Welfare Gains from Fiscal Decentralization Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (1997) 2-3, pp. 83-92.
October 1, 1992	Measuring Peer Group Effects: A Study of Teenage Behavior with Evans, W.; Schwab, Robert M. Journal of Political Economy (October, 1992) 100, pp. 966-991.
March 1, 1991	Community Composition and the Provision of Local Public Goods: A Normative Analysis with Schwab, Robert M. Journal of Public Economics (March, 1991), 44, pp. 217-237.
December 1, 1989	The Net Benefits of Incentive-Based Regulation: A Case Study of Environmental Standard Setting with Portney, P.; McGartland, A. American Economic Review (Dec., 1989), 79, pp. 1233-1242. Reprinted in T. Tietenberg, ed., Environmental Instruments and Institutions (Edward Elgar, 1999)
July 1, 1988	On the Measurement of Congestion in the Provision of Local Public Goods Journal of Urban Economics (July, 1988), 24, pp. 85-94.
April 1, 1988	Economic Competition Among Jurisdictions: Efficiency-Enhancing or Distortion-Inducing? with Schwab, Robert M. Journal of Public Economics (April, 1988), 35, pp. 333-354.
January 1, 1988	Does Economic Sclerosis Set in With Age? An Empirical Study of the Olson Hypothesis with Wallis, John Joseph; NULL Kyklos, 41, pp. 397-417, 1988.
January 1, 1988	On the Nature and Measurement of Fiscal Illusion: A Survey In G. Brennan et al., eds., Taxation and Fiscal Federalism: Essays in Honour of Russell Mathews (Sydney: Australian National University Press, 1988), pp. 65-82.
April 1, 1987	Assistance to the Poor in a Federal System with Brown, C. Journal of Public Economics (April 1987), 32, pp. 307-330.
September 1, 1985	Marketable Permits for the Prevention of Environmental Deterioration with McGartland, A. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (Sept. 1985), 12, pp. 207-228.
September 1, 1985	Searching for Leviathan: An Empirical Study American Economic Review (Sept. 1985), 75, pp. 748-57.
August 1, 1985	Marketable Pollution Permits and Acid Rain Externalities: A Comment and Some Further Evidence with McGartland, A. Canadian Journal of Economics (Aug., 1985), 18, pp. 668-675.
May 1, 1981	On Local Finance and the Tiebout Model American Economic Review (May, 1981), 71, pp. 93-98.
January 1, 1974	Suburban Exploitation of Central Cities and Governmental Structure with Bradford, D. in H. Hochman and G. Peterson, eds., Redistribution Through Public Choice (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1974), pp. 43-90.
August 1, 1971	The Analysis of Revenue Sharing in a New Approach to Collective Fiscal Decisions with Bradford, D. Quarterly Journal of Economics (Aug., 1971), 85, pp. 416-39; Reprinted in Spanish translation, "El analysis de la participacion impositiva en el marco de las decisiones fiscales colectivas," in A. Gimenez, ed., Financiacion de las Autonomias (Madrid: H. Blume Ediciones, 1979), pp. 163-88.
May 1, 1971	Towards a Predictive Theory of Intergovernmental Grants with Bradford, D. American Economic Review (May, 1971), 61, pp. 440-48; Reprinted in Spanish translation, "Hacia una teoria predictiva de las subvencciones intergubernamentales," in A. Gimenez, ed., Financiacion de las Autonomias (Madrid: H. Blume Ediciones, 1979), pp. 143.62; Reprinted in B. Grewal, R. Mathews, and G. Brennan, eds., The Economics of Federalism (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1980), pp. 321-333.
March 1, 1971	The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment with Baumol, W. Swedish Journal of Economics (March, 1971), 73, pp. 42-54; Reprinted in P. Bohm and A. Kneese, eds., The Economics of the Environment: Papers from Four Nations (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972); Reprinted in Italian translation in P. Bohm and A. Kneese, eds., L'Economia Dell'Ambiente (Milano: Fra Angeli; editore, 1974), pp. 101-119; Reprinted in German translation in H. Siebert, ed., Umwelt und Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1979), pp. 169-88; Reprinted in German translation in H. Moller et al., eds., Umweltokonomik: Beitrage zur Theorie und Politik (Verlagsgruppe, Athenaum, 1982), pp. 254-66; reprinted in W. Oates, ed. The Economics of the Environment (Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1992), pp. 161-73; Reprinted in Czech translation in P. Sauer and M. Livingston, eds., Ekonomic Zivotniho Prostredi a Ekologicka Politica (Praha, 1996), pp. 121-33; Reprinted in T. Tietenberg, ed., Environmental Instruments and Institutions (Edward Elgar, forthcoming).
November 1, 1969	The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: An Empirical Study of Tax Capitalization and the Tiebout Hypothesis Journal of Political Economy (Nov./Dec., 1969), 77, pp. 957-71; reprinted in A. Atkinson, ed., Modern Public Finance (Aldershot, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1991), pp. 344-58.
June 1, 1969	The Rising Cost of Local Public Services: Some Evidence and Reflections with Bradford, D.; Malt, R. National Tax Journal (June, 1969), 22, pp. 185-202; Reprinted in Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series in Economics, Econ-49; Reprinted in W. Patrick Beaton, ed., Municipal Needs, Services, and Financing (New Brunswick, N.J.: Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University, 1974), pp. 223-40.
February 1, 1968	The Theory of Public Finance in a Federal System Canadian Journal of Economics (Feb., 1968), 1, pp. 37-54.

Teaching - Spring 2012

Course	Syllabus	WWW
HONR 288W: Economics, Markets, and Social Policy:How the World Works (and Doesn't Work)

Teaching - Spring 2011

Course	Syllabus	WWW
ECON 481: Theory and Policy in Environmental Economics
HONR 288W: Economics, Markets, and Social Policy:How the World Works (and Doesn't Work)

Teaching - Spring 2010

Course	Syllabus	WWW
ECON 481: Theory and Policy in Environmental Economics
ECON 708: Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics
ECON 878: Workshop in Labor Economics
HONR 288W: Economics, Markets, and Social Policy:How the World Works (and Doesn't Work)

Teaching - Fall 2009

Course	Syllabus	WWW
ECON 708: Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics

Teaching - Spring 2009

Course	Syllabus	WWW
ECON 481: Theory and Policy in Environmental Economics
ECON 708: Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics
ECON 878: Workshop in Labor Economics
HONR 288W: Economics, Markets, and Social Policy:How the World Works (and Doesn't Work)

Tydings Hall 3147E

3105 Tydings Hall
Department of Economics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-3496