Valuation under the Law of Eminent Domain

The Frontier of Eminent Domain

The Economic Impacts of Eminent Domain

We model government takings of private property, embedding prominent theories of their economic consequences. Random assignment of U.S. judges and the fact that judges make takings precedent in a manner correlated with their race, political party, and prior government advocacy facilitate causal estimates of allowing government takings. Novel data on judicial biographies and takings decisions si...

An Economic Analysis of Eminent Domain

A theoretical analysis of land assembly with and without eminent domain concludes that, contrary to traditional assumptions, eminent domain is not necessarily a more efficient institution than the free market for consolidating many contiguous but separately owned parcels into a single ownership unit. In practice, prices paid under eminent domain may differ systematically from the "fair market v...

Marginal Cost Pricing and Eminent Domain

There are three separate strands of literature in economics that are related to the efficiency of takings under eminent domain: one addresses the question of optimal compensation for properties that are taken, the second inquires how governments might learn the values of properties that they consider taking, while the third analyzes solutions to the problem of land assembly. This essay reviews ...

The “public Use” Requirement in Eminent Domain Law: a Rationale Based on Secret Purchases and Private Influence

This article provides a rationale for understanding and interpreting the “public use” requirement within eminent domain law. The rationale is based on two factors. First, whereas the government often needs the power of eminent domain to avoid the problem of strategic holdout, private parties are usually able to purchase property through the use of secret buying agents. The availability of secre...