Picking a town is a lot like shopping — for tax rates and public services

Economist Charles Tiebout argued that people effectively shop for local government: households move to whichever town offers their preferred mix of taxes and services like schools or parks. That mobility disciplines local officials much like competition disciplines firms. He called it 'voting with your feet.'

— Charles Tiebout, A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures — Journal of Political Economy, vol. 64, 1956