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Abstract. Land taxes may not be neutral in their economic impacts due to liquidity effects. Liquidity effects of land taxes may be in the form of holding cost effects or capitalization effects. Holding cost effects may occur when land is being withheld from development for non‐financial reasons, such as the direct benefits of landownership. Capitalization effects may occur when there are imperfections in capital markets which prevent the acquisition of land for otherwise viable projects. Contrary to the analysis by Bentick, no liquidity effects should be expected due to variations in streams of land rent generated by different hypothetical development projects for a given site. Bentick's analysis relies on a misunderstanding of the nature of land rent.

This article resolves the conflict between biological and cultural explanations of aesthetic behavior that is evident in the landscape aesthetics literature. In resolving that conflict, the article combines biological, cultural, and personal bases for aesthetics in a comprehensive paradigm for research in landscape aesthetics. This paradigm is based on Vygotsky's developmental approach to understanding the human mind and human behavior. Vygotsky's method leads to the identification of three fundamental processes of development: phylogenesis (biological evolution), sociogenesis (cultural history), and ontogenesis (individual development). These correspond to three modes of existence-the Umwelt, the Mitwelt, and the Eigenwe/t-Adentified phenomenologically by the existential analysts. These in turn correspond to three modes of aesthetic experience: biological, cultural, and personal. The interrelations of the three modes of aesthetic experience are discussed, with particular emphasis on the biological and cultural modes. It is concluded that each mode has distinct qualities that justify its separate inclusion within the paradigm. Finally, the three modes are characterized as sets of aesthetic constraints and opportunities, labeled laws, rules, and strategies, respectively. Important research directions in landscape aesthetics involve identification and explanation of these constraints and opportunities. The tripartite paradigm promises to be useful in helping to pose important research questions as well as in avoiding conceptual errors in the design of experiments in landscape aesthetics.

Abstract. The effects of land value taxation on housing development are studied in three disparate cities: Pittsburgh, McKeesport, and New Castle, Pennsylvania. These places are examples of three different types of city: central city, suburban city, and relatively isolated city, respectively. Shifting taxes from buildings to land is hypothesized to have different effects in the different types of cities. A liquidity effect, due to increases in the land tax rate, is expected to operate in all three types of cities. An incentive effect, due to decreases in the tax rate on improvements, is expected to function in central cities and, possibly, in relatively isolated cities. It is not expected to be important in suburban cities such as McKeesport. An incentive effect was found in Pittsburgh, but not in the other two cities. No evidence of a liquidity effect was found in any of the three cities. An explanation of why observed effects may not conform with hypotheses is given.

ABSTRACT Incentive and liquidity effects of Pittsburgh's land value tax system are hypothesized to encourage new housing development. To test this hypothesis, an econometric model is estimated using building permit data for the dependent variable and tax rates and other determinants of new housing demand and supply for the independent variables. For the case of new housing, it is shown that the incentive effect is significant but the liquidity effect is not. The incentive effect is found to encourage increases in the number of new units constructed in Pittsburgh rather than increases in the average cost of new units.