This is the text of the 2013 Ely Lecture presented at the American Economics Association convention in San Diego. I am grateful to Yueran Ma, Charles Nathanson and especially Kristina Tobio for extraordinary research assistance. Joseph Gyourko and Jose Scheinkman provided helpful comments. The Taubman Center for State and Local Government provided helpful financial support. The Taubman Center for State and Local Government provided helpful financial support. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.