This report is a collaborative effort from researchers at the Brookings Institution, Fannie Mae, Georgetown University and the George Washington University. We are particularly grateful to the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and the George Washington Institute for...
Representation underpins the American democracy. Yet, residents of the nation’s capital lack full representation before Congress. So what? Does it matter? Do the laws passed by Congress differ substantively and substantially because the District of Columbia lacks full representation? Has the lack...
Along numerous dimensions Washington, D.C. differs substantially from the rest of the United States. It is a city that lacks the support and resources of a state. It performs many of the same functions as a state while lacking most of the rights, powers, and privileges guaranteed to states under...
In the 1930s the Washington, DC African American
community was concentrated in the heart of the city. During the second half of the 20th century DC’s African
American population migrated rapidly eastward, including
beyond the city’s boundaries into Maryland. Now, eight
decades later, the...
Amazon’s search for its second headquarters home has led
cities across the country to lay out what many contend are
extravagant incentive packages. How big are these incentive
packages? And how much of economic development
inducements are run though the particularly opaque tax
code? In this...
The purpose of this paper is to review the empirical and theoretical literature on area economic competitiveness and the sub-national location of economic activity. Thus, we are interested in why economic activity locates where it does, and, from the perspective of a given sub-national area, what...
High housing costs are mostly regional, not national, problem. U.S. does not have a single, unified housing market. Since 2012, U.S. housing prices have risen by 5.3% per year. This outpaces household income growth of 4% annually (Bhutta et al 2017). But large regional variation in housing price...
Introduction: In 1977, the White Flint Mall opened to great acclaim as Maryland’s premier mall, complete with glass
elevators, glamorous anchor stores, and an exciting eatery. Now, more than four decades later, White Flint
Mall is situated in a sea of empty parking lots. Except for anchor...
When Tony Williams became mayor of the District of Columbia in 1999, the city
faced stark economic, demographic, and geographic divisions. Neighborhoods
in the upper Northwestern quadrant, on Capitol Hill, and those adjacent to the
Montgomery and Prince George’s County borders had stable...