Abstract

Several scholars have proposed using property owners' ex ante, periodic self-assessments of properties' economic value as takings compensation, replacing the current US regime, which uses ex post governmental assessments of properties' market value. No empirical study has yet been done to examine whether the proposed ex ante self-assessment method produces accurate takings compensation. This article fills the empirical gap by analyzing data from Taiwan's 1954–1977 regime, which was similar to the proposed scholarly models. I find that most landowners rationally reported their self-assessments at below market value, which was less than or equal to landowners' economic value, mainly because the condemnation probabilities were much lower than the property tax rates. (JEL K11)

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