Research
My recent work has been focused on the determinants of interstate migration, particularly that of the elderly. In the policy arena, there is a large belief that lowering taxation of the elderly will make a state more attractive for elderly migrants. Leaving aside questions about the budgetary implications of such decisions or whether or not attracting elderly migrants is solid policy, my work with Karen Conway has found no discernable evidence that taxes play a main role in the decision of the elderly to migrate to a particular state. (If anything, it appears that the influx of elderly helps shape preferential tax treatment.) Rather, two of the more dominant factors are those that have been argued in gerontology for years: family and weather.
Now if I can only get the policy world to listen to me.
Relevant Publications
The Genesis of Senior Tax Breaks (with K.S. Conway), National Tax Journal, December 2012, 65(4), 1043-68.
No Country for Old Men (and Women): Do State Taxes Drive Away the Elderly? (with K.S. Conway), National Tax Journal, June 2012, 65(2), 313-356.
The Changing Roles of Disability,Veteran and Socioeconomic Status in Elderly Interstate Migration (with K.S. Conway), Research on Aging, May 2011, 33(3), 256-285.
40 Years of 'Going with the Flow'—A Comparison of Interstate Elderly Migration Over Time and Between the (I)PUMS and Full Census Data (with K.S. Conway), Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, November 2010, 65B(6), pp. 767-771.
Income Tax Breaks for the Elderly: How Did We Get Here? (with K.S. Conway), Public Policy and Aging Report, Fall 2008, 18(4), pp. 1, 33-39.
Income Tax Preferences for the Elderly (with K.S. Conway), Public Finance Review, September 2008, 36(5), pp. 523-562.
State “Death” Taxes and Elderly Migration—The Chicken or the Egg? (with K.S. Conway), National Tax Journal, March 2006, 59(1), pp.97-128.
Diagnosis Murder: The Death of State 'Death' Taxes (with K.S. Conway), Economic Inquiry, October 2004, 42(4), pp. 537-559.