February Faculty Features

John H. Bowman, Ph.D., School of Business
Bowman, professor of economics in VCU's School of Business and Michael E. Bell, Ph.D., president, MEB Associates, Inc., and research professor at George Washington University, have been awarded a David C. Lincoln Fellowship by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. They received the fellowship for their research titled "Valuing Land for Tax Purposes in Traditional Tribal Areas of South Africa Where There is No Land Market." Since November 1995, Bowman and his colleague have collaborated on a series of research projects on various aspects of property taxation in South Africa, which they pulled together in the book, "Property Taxation in South Africa: Challenges in the Post-Apartheid Era." The Lincoln Fellowship extends this line of research and will cover research on establishing values for communally owned land in tribal areas where there is no property market for land, and therefore no land value for tax purposes. They will continue their research in the spring by visiting tribal settlements. Their book already has been accepted as a resource on property tax policy by governmental officials.