This thesis examines how rising urban housing costs and the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped migration patterns in the United States, with a focus on how these changes varied by income and industry. Using American Community Survey microdata, Zillow housing price data, and work-from-home exposure rates by industry, the study explores whether individuals in remote-eligible jobs were more likely to migrate in response to local housing cost increases. Contrary to expectations, the results show that housing prices are not highly correlated with migration for individuals working in more amenable to WFH industries, suggesting that financial constraints, job security, or early-pandemic moves may be more influential when determining migration decisions. Demographic variables like age and education are consistently stronger predictors of migration with younger and more educated individuals showing greater mobility. Furthermore, my findings suggest that while remote work offers greater flexibility for some, it does not overcome the underlying structural barriers that limit mobility for many. As a result, addressing the geographic and economic divides deepened by the pandemic will require policy efforts focused on housing affordability and general support for vulnerable populations.

Proposition 13, which was passed in California in 1978, reduced property taxes to one percent, capped valuation increases to the lesser of inflation and two percent per annum, limited reassessments to change-in-ownership events, and reset property valuations to 1975 levels. This paper investigates the tax-setting response of local governments following a negative tax shock by exploiting the change in the property tax scheme of California. Results indicate material and statistically significant changes at the county level in jurisdictions’ reliance on intergovernmental transfers. The paper undertakes three methods of analysis in order to understand the magnitude and significance of these responses: synthetic difference-in-difference at the state and local level; a dose-response difference-in-difference analysis within California using a constructed property tax exposure metric; and a cross-border analysis of bordering counties in Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. The analysis provides significant results for the first two and mixed results for the third. The conclusions herein illuminate the dynamics of local government responses following the passage of Proposition 13 as well as the relationships between layers of governments in systems of fiscal federalism like the United States.