DEPRECIATION PROFILES AND DEPRECIATION POLICY IN A SPATIAL CONTEXT*
研究发现美国联邦税法对折旧的处理不仅对资产和行业不中性，对地理位置也不中性；基于洛杉矶和费城制造业数据，1981年税法将设备寿命缩短至5年，导致相同行业分类的工厂在不同都市区的有效税率和楔子存在差异，原因在于公司税率及资产类型与质量的地区差异。
ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates that the treatment of depreciation in the federal tax code is nonneutral not only with respect to assets and industries, as demonstrated in a number of recent studies, but also with respect to location. Using a unique set of data for manufacturing plants in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, the paper shows that the 1981 Tax Act's reduction of equipment lives to five years is likely to create differences in effective tax rates and wedges between the sample metropolitan areas for groups of plants with the same two‐digit industrial classification. These are attributable to spatial differences in corporate tax rates and the type and quality of assets used. The paper concludes by explaining how the results can be generalized to other sectors and metropolitan areas, and by noting some implications for policy.