Local economic growth and local government investment in parks and recreation, or five cheese pizzas for $2.6 million

Amenities have been linked to economic growth, which has been studied at the level of nations, regions, and urban areas. We look instead at economic development at the highly localized level of cities, villages, and townships. We use regression discontinuity to estimate the effect of renewing and cutting parks and recreation spending. We find an initial effect of $2.6 million in additional residential construction 1 year after voting to renew tax funding, with diminishing effects in subsequent years. We use votes to renew tax levies, arguing that the timing of tax proposals for new funding has endogenously chosen timing.