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In recent years, the public choice school, which has dominated the debate on metropolitan governance since the 1980s, is facing new intellectual challenges. Like the reformers during the first half of the 20th Century, many urban scholars and practitioners are again demanding more integrated governance structures for sprawling metropolitan areas. There are also fundamental differences between the early reformers and the current advocates of a new regionalism in metropolitan areas. The new conceptions can be seen as the latest step in a dialectic development of governance paradigms. Whereas the early reformers adopted a technocratic, "steering" perspective and proposed a consolidated regional city, the public choice advocates relied on an individualistic "choice" approach to propose decentralized and (territorially or functionally) fragmented government structures. The latest turn of the debate goes beyond a pure instrumentalist view on political institutions which is embodied in both traditions. Social constructivists understand the attempts for "boundary (re)drawing", which is at the core of all metropolitan reform plans, primarily as a process of constructing/ constitutionalizing individual and collective identities. This paper presents an analysis of distinct definitions of fundamental governance goals and the corresponding proposals for institutional design. Very different understandings of "democracy" can be described in Abraham Lincoln’s terms: Early reformers based their plans on a top-down perspective on democracy as "government for the people", rational choice advocates stress the bottom-up concept of "government by the people" and social constructivists focus their attention on "government of the/of what people" - an aspect which is gaining center stage in a world where socio-economic and cultural spaces of flows are superposing traditional spaces of place. The formula for economic success has changed from focusing on effectiveness (a concept based on welfare theory) over efficiency (based on political economy) to competitiveness (based on trade theory). Dominant definitions of social justice have been transformed from equality over equivalence to equity/difference. The paper uses those different definitions of core values and the corresponding proposals for institutional design to analyze the discourse on institutional reform in metropolitan areas in the United States from the 1950s to the year 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State government policy frequently focuses on stimulating a healthy business environment with the assumption that this is linked with long term economic growth. The conventional wisdom is that a state's tax rates are negatively correlated with economic development, prompting states to decrease business-targeted taxes to encourage economic stimulation. Surprisingly, however, very few studies have documented the long-term effects of these taxes on different facets of the state economy and overall business atmosphere. In short, we do not know how the level of business taxation actually affects the economies of states. Using panel data for all fifty U.S. states from 1977 to 2005, this paper examines the impact of state business taxes on the overall economic status of the state, specifically looking at their effect on economic development and business growth. With an elaborate set of controls, the paper links taxes to gross state product, job creation, personal income, poverty rates, and business establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of changes in the economic and political environment, American cities have shifted their economic development sights onto the development of consumption-oriented infrastructure. One tool that city leaders can use to promote consumption-oriented development is to host a mega-event. Mega-events bring large scale, short-term media attention to a city and demand require a certain "appearance" to maximize future economic development potential. The Olympic games are the megaevent of choice for cities seeking this international attention. The International Olympic Committee, which controls the Olympics, recently required that "Olympic legacy" be an element of any city's bid for the games. This paper examines the growing literature on Olympic legacies with an eye toward describing the nature of legacy claims and assessing how "legacy planning" can be a tool of policy making. The paper uses evidence from the 2012 London Olympics, the first summer games to be held under the new IOC requirements, to illustrate the impact of legacy planning and speculates as to how the legacy requirement will influence future bids from American cities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of US nuclear strategy offers an interesting case study of idea influence: while the dominant historical narrative is filled with accounts of the enormous effect civilian strategists and their ideas had on US policies, critics note that actual correlation between expert ideas and expert ideas is sporadic at best. The present paper analyzes the influence of expert ideas on Cold War US nuclear strategy during the debate on counterforce in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It answers the question why the highly rational language of civilian strategist came to dominate the deterrence policy discourse for the better part of the Cold War. Contrary to existing theoretical accounts of idea influence, the paper conceptualizes influence as discursive: ideas are influential when they monopolize the language of the policy discourse, thereby acting as constraints on the beliefs and perceptions of key actors. In order to avoid the pitfalls of previous rational and reflectivist approaches, the selection of ideas for policy use is explained through the concept of persuasiveness. Persuasive ideas are not merely intellectually compelling, but also fit with existing policy problems, ideas, and the general policy environment. Thus, persuasiveness is able to explain strategic use, as well as discursive dominance and subsequent institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper related to city leaders and economic development prepared for presentation at the 2011 Southern Political Science Association meeting is presented. It discusses that the city leaders in the U.S. can engage in a variety of efforts for promoting the economic growth and vitality of their communities. It also mentions that the economic interests of developers and the political interests of the local leaders to help convergence and promote development efforts.

In the post-Cold War international system, the primary goal for American foreign policy has been to prevent the emergence of a strategic economic and security competitor. The goal of this paper is to argue that the U.S. perceives its security, economic growth and prosperity, and survival in terms of the global movement of energy within the prevailing international system and explore the complex array of geopolitical and geoeconomic dimensions that shape America's pursuit of energy security. The paper concludes that these dimensions are grounded on two realities: 1- meeting rising domestic consumer and commercial demands for oil and natural gas; and 2- maximizing American power and influence within the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition laws aim to prevent firms' anticompetitive behavior--such as forming cartels to fix prices or to share markets--in the marketplace. From the enactment of the Sherman Act (1890) in the United States until the 1970s, competition laws existed only in a handful of industrialized countries. In the last few decades, however, many countries around the world with varying degrees of economic development have adopted competition policies and established independent competition authorities. The number of countries with competition laws has grown from around twenty in 1980 to over a hundred in 2006. What explains this rapid international spread of competition laws? In this paper, I explore the mechanisms through which competition laws spread to countries around the world within a relatively circumscribed time period. Recent scholarship on international diffusion of liberal policies and politics suggests four mechanisms through which diffusion occurs: coercion, competition, learning, and emulation. This paper lays out the different theoretical arguments accounting for the international diffusion of policies, and tests these arguments empirically with newly-collected data on competition law adoption among countries in the international system in the period 1955-2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities across the United States are increasingly using historic preservation efforts to spur local economic development (Listokin et al. 1998; Newman 2001; Wonjo 1991). Historic preservation policy allows land developers, community organizations, and homeowners to take advantage of various economic incentives provided by the national and state governments. In many cities, the historic designation of inner-city neighborhoods has been associated with improving property values; the amount of available housing units; and the overall quality of communities (Coulson and Leichenko 2004; Rypkema 1994). In this paper, I examine how Blacks have been able to use historic preservation as a tool to revitalize their urban communities. The central research question is: What are the social, political, and economic outcomes associated with using historic preservation policy as a mechanism for redevelopment in urban Black neighborhoods? I use the Martin Luther King, Jr. Landmark District (Atlanta, GA) as a case study to explore how the designation of Black urban neighborhoods as local historic districts affects Blacks' ability to both preserve and revitalize their communities. The MLK, Jr. neighborhood (commonly known as "Sweet Auburn") is the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and home to some of the city's oldest Black churches and civic groups. Its designation as a local landmark district has led to the protection and restoration of important historical structures throughout the area. I hope this paper will reveal the significance and challenges of preserving neighborhoods that are historically important to Blacks and the implications this has for urban revitalization and community building. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects that U.S. and Jordanian bilateral trade policies have had on facilitating trade between the two states since 2000 and how private actors have helped transform bilateral trade relations. The basic premise of this paper is that in light of contemporary relations between the United States and the MENA region it is increasingly important to understand the effects of trade liberalisation and bilateral trade agreements on both economic development and integration. A liberal institutionalist approach is used to answer three core questions. Firstly, what the effect of the Jordan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement has been after six years? Secondly, what has been the role of non-state actors? And finally, how can economic reform and liberal trade lead to greater growth in economic integration between states? An analysis is presented of the growth of the Textiles and Clothing (T&C) sector in the Jordanian economy and the growing importance of this sector in U.S.-Jordan trade. Based on field research conducted in Jordan and the United States, the T&C sector is reviewed to illustrate how a number of private economic actors coupled with public-private partnerships have taken advantage of trade liberalisation between the United States and Jordan to transform bilateral trade relations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has made it increasingly important to determine their effects on trade flows. At the center of the debate over the impact of these agreements are the questions of whether they are trade diverting or trade creating (Rahman et al 2006) and whether they are on balance trade-liberalizing or protectionist (Krueger 1999). Goldstein et al (2007) find the impact of nonreciprocal PTAs to be negative, contradictory to the underlying goals for such agreements. This paper seeks to further test this and other studies that have found a negative relationship between nonreciprocal trade agreements, preferences, and trade using a recently implemented non-reciprocal trade agreement between the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of 2000. The AGOA seeks to promote trade, investment, and economic cooperation between the U.S. and AGOA countries by offering 36 eligible African countries duty-free access for most goods, providing coverage for additional commodities above and beyond those covered under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). U.S. non-oil imports under the AGOA have become the largest category of trade for eligible countries. A traditional gravity model is employed to test whether the AGOA is trade creating for eligible countries targeting the U.S. market. The findings of this study suggest that AGOA membership or eligibility for AGOA textile benefits have no significant impact on trade. The uncertainty of the life span of preferences, eroding preferential margins, and the inability for African producers to respond adequately to preferences are theoretical explanations for these results. The importance of this paper is to advance our understanding of the effect of PTAs, specifically those between a major economic power and less developed countries at a time when preferences are eroding yet remain at the center of debate in the current Doha Round. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years microfinance has garnered growing attention in the government, banking, and non-governmental arenas as an alternative to largely unsuccessful state-run and multilateral development and aid programs. Proponents of microfinance suggest the industry is well-equipped to assist many of the world’s over four billion poor. However, there are still many questions about the impact of microfinance on the quality of life for the poor, and much debate about what “solid” evidence there is to support it as a contextually relevant form of economic development. The research presented in this paper focuses on one component of community sustainability and quality of life that is inextricably linked to poverty: the natural environment. Environmental conditions are of paramount importance to many of the world’s poor due to their reliance on natural resources for both subsistence and income, yet they remain absent from microfinance theory and practice which often focuses on broad applicability rather than locally-informed interventions. Logically and intuitively, there is much potential for microfinanced enterprises to incorporate the local natural environment either as a source for inputs or a sink for outputs. This paper explores the relationship between microfinance-led poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability based on field work with microfinance and sustainable development NGOs in the US and Jinga, Uganda. It uses contextual analysis gauge the potential to create an environmentally-informed microfinance intervention to improve quality of life for the poor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the competitive environment of economic development delays in communication between the locality and a prospective private business could cause a prospect to be lost. Also, publicly revealing one's offer may result in a loss of competitive advantage and allow prospects to seek a better deal from competing communities. This competitive environment does not lend itself to the systematic evaluation of practices typical of other local government activities. Policy analysis literature identifies various evaluation techniques used to evaluate expenditures, practices, and monitor projects. Evaluation aims at increasing the effectiveness and transparency of government operations. In local economic development these practices are often viewed as hindrances to the goals of the local economic development agency. This paper assesses factors that appear to be related to the degree of evaluation of their tax incentive packages undertaken by local economic development agencies. This paper will explore factors that may contribute to a stronger evaluation effort and add to the literature. The culture of the economic development agency, operationalized by the size of staff per capita, percent of the locality's budget spent on economic development per capita, the organizational structure, the complexity of the agency and the number of private-public partnerships the agency enters into affect the level of evaluation done by the agency. This research will be based data obtained upon mailed surveys to a randomly selected sample of local governments from across the United States. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper lays out an argument that, to the extent that the urban politics subfield has moved from the center to the periphery of political science, it is because the subfield has neglected to develop a contemporary, theoretically grounded version of cultural explanation to go along with its attention to institutions and political economy. The paper then introduces such a cultural theory - one that crosscuts the usual class and race divisions in urban inquiry. The paper shows how taking this form of explanation seriously could bring the study of local electoral politics closer to themes that are energizing the American politics field more broadly. It also shows that more serious attention to cultural explanation promises to enrich our efforts to understand urban development politics and policymaking and conflicts involving the politicization of routine city services by radicalized activists as well as conflicts over more purely morality issues. The paper concludes with an acknowledgment of a remaining challenge - conceptualizing how race and ethnicity relate to the new conceptualization of unconventional versus traditional sub-culture in the U.S. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of land-use enforcement within the United States has played a historical role in the lives of African-Americans --- in everything from slavery to its impact on black religious values. This evolution of land development can be traced back from its indigeneity during the stone age era unto this day. Over the years, land-use enforcement has been expressed by some as an exploitative way for a regime to gain power toward increasing their own economic and territorial advantages. For others, its ramifications have been accepted as a way of life, used persuasively to ensure the continual reproduction of labor among minority classes. In both cases, African Americans have witnessed many hostile transitions related to land enforcement --- including colonialism, slavery, black laws, Jim Crow, segregation, and discriminatory zoning. Today, zoning inequality remains a problem among minority religious communities. Overall, the racial force and intensity of zoning outcomes, whether legal or discriminative, are founded upon the evolution of land-use enforcement, even use of its supporting systems of pre-existing government, stratification, and exclusionary zoning. Subject to its hierarchal derivation are the repressive behaviors manifested among those involved in such matters --- and are often triggered by certain internal stimuli resulting in new paradigms of class tension. During the Great Migration in 1910, onlookers witnessed a dichotomous eruption between black advocates of historical denominations and new minority leadership. High among this list of complaints were concerns based upon the increasing number of Storefront Churches inundating tenancy in historical religious districts worldwide. Through the lens of the Storefront Church movement, this thesis will argue that the impact of both legal and discriminative religious zoning in America is hinged on the evolution of land-use enforcement; and the ethical outcomes of zoning strife is contingent upon one's relative association to pre-existing government, stratification, and exclusionary zoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing consensus that economic development alone will not result in democratization, universal values, and just societies. Investments in global governance seem necessary. But the discussion about global governance has often falsely featured the idea that there can be obvious joint solutions for obvious common problems. In fact, different actors pursue strikingly different, and often conflicting, versions of global governance. This paper explores the ongoing struggle for the governance of the global economy, featuring the competing proposals of transnational corporations and unions. This controversy has recently been transnationalized. The well-known activities of nationally based actors regarding their own governments, and the lobbying activities of international umbrella organizations regarding international organizations, are now complemented by transnational activities of nationally based actors. It is those new transnational actions that the paper focuses on, using recent conflicts between U.S.-based unions and Transnational Enterprises in the Americas, Asia, and Europe as the backdrop for a discussion of the contribution of such actions to the development of international values and norms. The paper argues that such contribution is necessarily limited because of the highly voluntaristic quality of both the corporations' and the unions' actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the consequences of the breakdown of talks on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the generalized shift from multilateralism to bilateralism in the Americas for the region's emerging foreign investment regime. The paper argues that multilateral processes have historically benefited Latin American countries when their interests have diverged from those of the US. In terms of investment, the foreign investment regime advanced by the United States (in bilateral investment treaties) differs significantly from that advanced by sub-regional powers such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, particularly regarding investment rules on national treatment and performance requirements. This suggests that, in the absence of multilateral negotiations, US norms on investment and development will progressively define the emerging hemispheric investment regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates one kind of collective action, the formation of regional partnerships in governmentally fragmented metropolitan areas and role of diverse social capitals through applying ICA framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of prison sitings as highly coveted rural development projects sheds light on the literatures of community decision-making, issue definition and policy innovation. We interviewed a cross-section of political elites from eleven counties in North Carolina about prison sitings in their communities during the period 1990-2002. These counties were all potential host counties for a state prison during that period. The data base contains approximately 40 surveys. We will be testing a hypothesis that puts issue definition at the center of policy innovation: to the extent that there is consensus that a prison siting will bring jobs to the county, the leaders are likely to accept it. As a part of our research design, we also examined the diffusion effect by gathering data on presence of sites in counties surrounding the referent country and on the interaction between political leaders from the referent and surrounding counties. Until recently, community leaders defined prisons as a NIMBY and resisted sitings in their counties. In other words, the prison was not among the various options in the community leaders’ “solution set” (Jones and Bachelor). The changing debate over whether to accept prison siting as a form of economic development is a process of issue definition (Rochefort and Cobb). The prison issue qua issue can have plural positive and negative definitions: jobs, clean jobs, recession-proof jobs, risk from break-outs, a cause of increased crime, a drain on sewage and water capacity, or a cause of an influx of “unsavory” immigrants. It should be noted that in North Carolina, the community must ante up the cost of the land and the cost of running sewage and water to the facility, so it is a significant community investment. We documented the process of issue definition through public debate with elite interviews as well as reviews of local media archives to account for their framing of the issue. We found that to the extent there is a consensus in the community that prison equals jobs and the negative issues do not dominate the debate, the leaders are likely to accept the prison siting. Our study controls for a number of rival explanations that would lead to a higher probability of siting: 1) structural economic factors based on relative wealth, 2) the critical event hypothesis accounting for recent jolts to county economies, and 3) the demographic susceptibility of groups poorly positioned to lobby against a NIMBY. We augmented the quantitative analysis with a qualitative review of the elite surveys to examine the diffusion effect of elite interactions between the referent county and surrounding counties. Our results will gauge the effect of policy borrowing (Rose) and of the diffusion of innovation (Walker, Gray, Berry and Berry). The results of our research will illuminate the process by which the community leaders debated prison siting and will reveal systematic factors associated with a community accepting a prison. This paper will lay the groundwork for a general account of the role of issue definition in policy innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S. federal system, each state is a rival of and an ally to other states. The equilibrium established among the states is subject to disruption as the result of competition and cooperation. In pursuit of its self-interest, a state will compete and cooperate with other states. This paper examines both behaviors, using an original data set including interstate compacts, joint legal actions, economic development competition, and interstate lawsuits. The research finds that the interstate equilibrium established during the 1990s tended to be more cooperative than competitive. Further, the states themselves vary in terms of how cooperative or competitive they are. Finally, states with higher levels of government capability interact more with other states than those with less capable governments do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the hallmark shifts in the structure of modern American politics was partisan change in the postwar South. This paper concentrates on disentangling the three great influences on that change: economic development and a politics of class, legal desegregation and a politics of race, and institutional mediation by the three main elective institutions of American politics, the Presidency, the Senate, and the House. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two distinct if overlapping stories are presently unfolding with regard to US foreign policy. The first is an internal ideological conflict within the United States as to the appropriate manner of managing its relations with its rivals and enemies, and of wielding American power more generally. The second is that of inexorable decline in the United States' ability to bend other nations, whether rising great powers or those merely of middling power status, to its will. Whether or not the United States continues to pursue the agenda of comparative detente and realism that seems to have been Obama's hallmark, this latter inflexible external reality awaits anyone who would seek to reverse course. This paper argues that US foreign policy should be crafted so as to reflect acceptance that the core task of this generation of American leaders will be to maximally preserve national interests and national dignity while coming to terms with a decline in relative power. President Obama's approach to policy, still at times invoking the rhetoric of exceptionalism and liberal universalism, seems as close to accepting realist principles as American leadership has come in recent decades. Nevertheless, it may not go far enough. Full awareness and acceptance of the increasing limits on America's power will demand a profound cultural shift from the American body politic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudanese refugees resettled to the United States direct their political activities toward the political, social and economic development of their origin country (or 'transnational' activities). In Australia their political activities are geared toward integration into their resettlement country (or 'domestic' activities). This paper starts from this empirical puzzle. Using the theory of policy feedback, I examine the impact of national refugee settlement policy on the direction of Sudanese refugee political activities. Evidence from semi-structured interviews with refugees, service providers and government officials provides support for this theory: different policy designs beget different refugee politics. I find that the service provider environment, as defined by the character of policy agents doing the daily work of settling refugees, is a critical component of a policy's ability to feedback on politics. Australian settlement policy agents are almost entirely supported by the Australian federal government. They utilize minimal amounts of civil society support and have stronger institutional and financial connections to the state, effectively reducing their autonomy in settlement practices. They cannot directly participate or encourage refugee activities that extend beyond their national borders nor do they have broad social networks that involve potential actors who would. In contrast, U.S. policy agents are required to seek out additional sources of support given the public-private nature of the US refugee settlement system. These agents' social networks, funding streams and mandates expand beyond the purview of the national government. Therefore politically active refugees more often interact with individuals with desires to participate in more diverse political activities, including refugee transnational activities such as building clinics and schools in underdeveloped regions like southern Sudan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US states and governors have been involved in the foreign economic arena since the 1950s, primarily concerned with activities related to the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) and promotion of exports. As the globalized world developed in the 20th century, US states placed personnel overseas and increasingly sent governors abroad. These activities continue today as governors and US state leaders seek to build economic stability for their communities. This study examines the ability of US states' international representatives and governors to help attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and promote exports. Analyzing new data collected from all 50 states, the paper assesses governor-led trade and investment missions and US states' representatives abroad, the tools used most often in American economic paradiplomacy but not adequately measured and tested in the literature. Results show that US-state level and individual-level variables matter and governors' travels and US states' international offices help with FDI and exports, thereby informing US states' strategies for economic development. As glocalization increases due to the global economy, this topic has possibilities for better connecting domestic and international politics, especially since subnational leaders in Asia, Europe, North and South America now participate in paradiplomacy. This topic also reminds scholars of the avenues for research using qualitative and quantitative methodology to evaluate subnational governments' connections with foreign relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and tests a campaign-centered theory of variation in the magnitude of the economic vote. Even in light of powerful structural and institutional predictors, and despite recent challenges, I argue that political campaigns play an integral, yet undertheorized, role in conditioning the political-economic correspondence. Building on existing research, I contend that this moderating effect is contingent upon the campaign's economic message and is dynamic within campaigns, even in the short-run. As the intensity of the economic campaign fluctuates, so does the economic vote. In order to test this argument, I explore the impact of economic rhetoric in televised campaign advertisements on the magnitude of the economic vote in the 1992 and 2000 United States presidential campaigns and the 2000 and 2006 Mexican presidential campaigns. To do so I combine public opinion data with measures of advertising frequency and original content analysis of economic news and televised campaign advertisements. I find strong evidence that economic campaign rhetoric moderates the economy-vote link, but that the effect varies by candidate and type of message. The results help explain non-monotonic, within-campaign variation in the economic vote and shed light on four election outcomes that conventional models struggle to explain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the degree of polarization between the two major political parties is affecting the importance of objective economic conditions for voters in the United States. I find that as the Democratic and Republican parties have grown more ideologically distinct over the last 40 years, individuals have grown increasingly immune to economic growth when casting votes in congressional and presidential elections. The declining importance of objective macroeconomic conditions appears to be driven by a concomitant rise in the significance of racial and social issues among voters with weak partisan ties. These results are confirmed in analysis of aggregate election outcomes for the U.S. House of Representatives from 1890-2008: greater party polarization is associated with a weaker relationship between economic growth and the percentage of seats gained or lost by the president's party. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper goes beyond the role of state municipal annexation laws, state and local government institutions and private actors in the local economic development process to describe and analyze the role of school boundaries in the expansion of the land area across fifty large U. S. cities. Three basic types of relationship between municipal and school district annexation patterns are identified and documented. Then the causes of these patterns are examined includiing variations in state annexation laws for school districts and municipalities, the behavior of municipal governments and school districts, the nature of other incorporated local government units and demographic factors. Finally, the implications for how different central city's are perceived, the nature of the local sense of community, the nature of local citizenship, the past and potential growth of central city boundaries and populations, and the variations in the plight of central cities and their school districts are explored. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on the relationship of the Federal Reserve vis-à-vis Congress, and in particular on the motivations of Members of Congress (MCs) as they oversaw the policy making decisions of the Fed from 1976 to 2008. We examine the evolution of congressional oversight of the Fed in order to better understand the thinking of MCs. Our approach is unusual in that it measures statistically the deliberations of Members of Congress in the House and Senate banking committees during the oversight hearings on monetary policy for eight periods (61 hearings) from 1976 to 2008. The reason for choosing this span of the history of US monetary policy is that it coincides with the Great Inflation of the 1970s, the radical action taken to cure that problem (initiated by the so-called Volcker Revolution of 1979), the subsequent period of stability and low inflation and ends with the early days of the current financial crisis. This was a period during which monetary policy also came to the forefront as the tool of macroeconomic stabilization. Some of our findings include: (1) MCs generally showed little interest in the detail of monetary policy making, seemingly willing to leave these details to the Fed; (2) MCs were actively engaged in challenging the Fed in the areas of governance, accountability and transparency; (3) the degree of challenge from Congress to the Fed appears to be negatively related to the success of the Fed in pursuing low inflation and stable economic growth; and (4) MCs of both parties failed to devote much attention to financial stability and bank regulation in the 1990s and early 21st century. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia presents a compelling framework for success and best practices in effective urbanization. The paper explicates the most important components of Australian cities' "Race to the Top". Successful metropolitan patterns are not attributed to a single factor, but the commingling of policies - sound urban and land use planning, strong and coordinated state and local leadership, superior heritage planning, effective multicultural policies and an overall commitment to sustainable development driving the entire process. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are among the most livable in the world. For the majority of U.S. cities to compete in the "Race to the Top," state, local and federal leaders must adopt new models and change existing patterns of development. Research methods include six, month-long visits of direct field research in Australia with dozens of semi-structured interviews of state and local planners, attendance at planning and council meetings, primary source data including all of the major structure plans, economic development activities, sustainability plans and regional plans. Australia's "Race to the Top" can be understood through three primary lenses: sound regional planning with an emphasis on place building, enhancing the knowledge economy and a recent overall commitment to sustainable development. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]