This article compares neo-Marxist and public choice theories of urban fiscal stress with descriptive data about the generation and consequences of fiscal stress in a number of cities in the 1970s. Each theory was found to be only partly descriptive of real life events. To create a more complete description, I integrate commensurable elements of neo-Marxism and public choice theory with more contingent factors, such as political vulnerability to citizen demands and the quality of local management. The article then describes the way cities have been changing as a result of fiscal stress and the implications of this process for theories of fiscal strain.
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