The Texas Economic Model, Miracle or Mirage? A Spatial Hedonic Analysis

As a state without a personal income tax that has experienced strong employment and population growth in the past, Texas was held up as the economic policy model for Kansas and Oklahoma to follow in recently cutting their personal income tax rates. Using micro-level data, this paper examines whether Texas has benefitted from its mix of public policies by examining the geographic patterns of estimated quality-adjusted wages and housing costs across the U.S. The overall finding is an absence of significantly positive capitalized effects from the policies of Texas. The only significant capitalized policy effect found was lower quality of life in Texas nonmetropolitan areas relative to those in Oklahoma