Colin Williams

I am a fifth-year PhD candidate in economics at the University of Virginia. My research in urban and public economics examines how state and federal policies affect local governments and the interactions between local fiscal and land use policies. You can find my CV here, or you can read about my current projects below.

I am available by email at williams.colinandrew@gmail.com.

Working Papers and Work in Progress

Manufactured housing placements declined dramatically relative to site-built housing since the 1980s. I show that state acts allowing local governments to impose development fees played a major role in this decline: because development fees are assessed per unit, rather than based on value, they caused large distortions in the market for low-cost housing. State Law, Local Finances, and Housing Affordability: The Uneven Effects of Flat Fees slides

We use granular geolocation data and multiple empirical strategies to document that congestion is a pervasive feature of brick-and-mortar retail. Retailers do not adjust prices to reduce congestion. Instead, they invest in extra capacity in order to meet demand during the busiest periods, furthering urban sprawl. Retailer Congestion and The Timing of Transfer Payments with Yooseon Hwang

States impose earmarking requirements on local governments that restrict how revenue from certain taxes can be spent. I show that such earmarks are highly effective at raising spending on the designated category even when earmarked revenues are small, violating standard models of government and voter behavior that assume tax revenues are fungible. I argue that bargaining between government agencies is responsible for the effectiveness of earmarks. In support of this theory, I show that earmarks have the largest effects in large, county governments with greater scope for conflict between interest groups. When Can Government Regulate Itself? Tax Earmarks and the Composition of Government Spending