Did the residents of large central cities really experience a rebound in their economic
fortunes since the 1980s? Much has been made of the revival of distressed cities
during the 1990s, yet how much of this asserted revival really worked its way down to
residents? We find that residents of...
Cities are an important determinant of state economic performance. As a consequence, states that ignore the economic well-being of their cities risk falling behind. Cities whose economies are stagnant, whose residents suffer from poverty and unemployment, whose budgets are in chronic fiscal...
Not all distressed cities are the same, either in the causes of their distress or in its manifestations. In this paper, we empirically develop a typology of economically distressed cities which differentiates among types of cities based on different aspects of economic distress and its impact on...
Some cities are successful, attracting businesses and residents, while others struggle unsuccessfully with declining industries and diminishing population. In this paper, we identify cities that over- or under-performed on certain indicators of well-being during the period from 1990 to 2000,...
The fundamental question we address is: What accounts for urban performance? By urban performance we mean change over time in important indicators of urban well-being such as income, jobs, crime rate, housing affordability, etc. Change in these indicators might result from several factors,...
Cities are creatures of their state governments. As such, state policy can have important effects, intended or otherwise, on the well-being of cities and their residents. States affect cities in a variety of ways, and the importance to local governments of the state government role has long been...