Railroads and Property Taxes
Jac Heckelman and John Joseph Wallis
,
1
(
34
)
Explorations in Economic History
77-99
January
1997
Abstract
Nineteenth century state and local governments continued to invest in railroads and other internal improvement projects long after it was clear that these projects were financially very risky. This paper provides a motivation for public involvement in internal improvements by estimating the effect of railroad construction on property values from 1850 to 1910.