Are city governments capable of responding to the preferences of their constituents? Is the menu of policy options determined by forces beyond their direct control? We answer these questions using a comprehensive cross-sectional database linking voter preferences to local policy outcomes in more than 2,000 midsize cities and a new panel covering cities in two states. Overall, our analysis paints an encouraging picture of democracy in the city: we document substantial variation in local fiscal policy outcomes and provide evidence that voter preferences help explain why cities adopt different policies. As they become more Democratic, cities increase their spending across a number of service areas. In addition, voter sentiment shapes the other side of the ledger, determining the level and precise mix of revenues on which cities rely. In short, we show that cities respond both to competitive pressures and the needs and wants of their constituents.
AbramowitzAlan I.2010. The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
2.
AbramowitzAlan I.AlexanderBradGunningMatthew. 2006. “Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Decline of Competition in U.S. House Elections.” Journal of Politics68 (1): 75–85.
3.
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. 1996. “The Role of Federal Mandates in Intergovernmental Relations: A Preliminary Review and Comment.” Washington, DC: ACIR.
4.
AlesinaAlbertoBaqirRezaEasterlyWilliam. 1999. “Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions.” Quarterly Journal of Economics114:1243–84.
5.
AllardScottBurnsNancyGammGerald. 1998. “Representing Urban Interests: The Local Politics of State Legislatures.” Studies in American Political Development12:267–302.
BafumiJosephHerronMichael C.2010. “Leapfrog Representation and Extremism: A Study of American Voters and Their Members in Congress.” American Political Science Review104:519–42.
8.
BanfieldEdward C.WilsonJames Q.1963. City Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
9.
BartelsLarry M.2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
10.
BerkmanMichael B.PlutzerEric. 2005. Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America’s School Districts. Washington, DC: Georgetown Univ. Press.
11.
BerryChristopher. 2008. “Piling On: Multilevel Government and the Fiscal Common-Pool.” American Journal of Political Science52 (4): 802–20.
12.
BerryChristopher R.2009. Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
13.
BouchéVanessaVoldenCraig. 2011. “Privatization and the Diffusion of Innovation.” Journal of Politics73:428–42.
14.
BrazerHarvey S.1959. “City Expenditures in the United States.” National Bureau of Economic Research Occasional Paper No. 66. http://www.nber.org/chapters/c9200.pdf .
15.
BrooksLeahPhillipsJustin H.2010. “An Institutional Explanation for the Stickiness of Federal Grants.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization26:243–64.
16.
BurnsNancy. 1994. The Formation of American Local Government. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
17.
BurnsNancyEvansLauraGammGeraldMcConnaughyCorrine. 2009. “Urban Politics in the State Arena.” Studies in American Political Development23:1–22.
18.
BurnsNancyGammGerald. 1997. “Creatures of the State: State Politics and Local Government, 1871-1921.” Urban Affairs Review33 (1): 59–96.
19.
ButticeMatthew K.HightonBenjamin. 2013. “How Does Multilevel Regression and Poststratification Perform with Conventional National Surveys?” Political Analysis21:449–67.
20.
CampbellAngusConversePhillip E.MillerWarren E.StokesDonald. 1960. The American Voter. New York: Wiley.
21.
Canes-WroneBrandiceBradyDavid W.CoganJohn F.2002. “Out of Step, Out of Office: Electoral Accountability and House Members’ Voting.” American Political Science Review96 (1): 127–40.
22.
ChapmanJeffrey I.1998. Proposition 13: Some Unintended Consequences. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.
23.
ChoiChiTurnerCharles C.VoldenCraig. 2002. “Means, Motive, and Opportunity: Politics, Community Needs, and Community Oriented Policing Services Grants.” American Politics Research30:423–55.
24.
ClarkTerry NicholsFergusonLorna Crowley. 1983. City Money: Political Processes, Fiscal Strain, and Retrenchment. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
25.
CrawMichael. 2010. “Deciding to Provide: Local Decisions on Providing Social Welfare.” American Journal of Political Science54 (4): 906–20.
26.
DahlRobert A.1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
27.
DeLeonRichard Edward. 1992. Left Coast City: Progressive Politics in San Francisco, 1975-1991. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
28.
DerthickMartha. 1970. The Influence of Federal Grants: Public Assistance in Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
29.
DesmondThomas C.1955. “States Eclipse the Cities.” National Municipal Review44:296–300.
30.
ErieSteven P.KoganVladimirMacKenzieScott A.2011. Paradise Plundered: Fiscal Crisis and Governance Failures in San Diego. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press.
31.
EriksonRobertWrightGeraldMcIverJohn. 1993. Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
32.
FerreiraFernandoGyourkoJoseph. 2009. “Do Political Parties Matter? Evidence from U.S. Cities.” Quarterly Journal of Economics124 (1): 349–97.
33.
FismanRaymondGattiRoberta. 2002. “Decentralization and Corruption: Evidence Across Countries.” Journal of Public Economics83:325–45.
34.
FoxJohn. 1997. Applied Regression Analysis, Linear Models, and Related Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
35.
FriedR. C.1975. “Comparative Urban Policy and Performance.” In Handbook of Political Science, edited by PolsbyN. W.GreensteinF. I.Vol. 6, 305–79. Reading, PA: Addison-Wesley.
36.
FrugGerald E.1979. “The City as a Legal Concept.” Harvard Law Review93:1057–154.
37.
GammGeraldKousserThad. 2013. “No Strength in Numbers: The Failure of Big-City Bills in American State Legislatures, 1880-2000.” American Political Science Review107 (4): 663–78.
38.
GerberElisabeth R.HopkinsDaniel J.2011. “When Mayors Matter: Estimating the Impact of Mayoral Partisanship on City Policy.” American Journal of Political Science55 (2): 326–39.
39.
GerringJohn. 2001. Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
40.
GreenDonald P.PalmquistBradleyShicklerEric. 2002. Partisan Hearts and Minds: Political Parties and the Social Identity of Voters. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
41.
HackerJacob S.PiersonPaul. 2010. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. New York: Simon & Schuster.
42.
HajnalZoltan L.TrounstineJessica. 2010. “Who or What Governs?: The Effects of Economics, Politics, Institutions, and Needs on Local Spending.” American Politics Research38 (6): 1130–63.
43.
HeckmanJames J.1979. “Sample Selection Bias as Specification Error.” Econometrica47:153–61.
44.
JacobsonGary C.2003. “Partisan Polarization in Presidential Support: The Electoral Connection.” Congress & the Presidency30:1–36.
45.
JuddDennis R.SwanstromTodd. 2012. City Politics: The Political Economy of Urban America. New York: Longman.
46.
KingGaryZengLangche. 2006. “The Dangers of Extreme Counterfactuals.” Political Analysis14:131–59.
47.
KnightBrian. 2002. “Endogenous Federal Grants and Crowd-Out of State Government Spending: Theory and Evidence from the Federal Highway Aid Program.” American Economic Review92:71–92.
48.
LaxJeffrey R.PhillipsJustin H.2009. “How Should We Estimate Public Opinion in the States?” American Journal of Political Science53 (1): 107–21.
49.
LaxJeffrey R.PhillipsJustin H.2012. “The Democratic Deficit in the States.” American Journal of Political Science56 (1): 148–66.
50.
LewisPaul G.2001. “Retail Politics: Local Sales Taxes and the Fiscalization of Land Use.” Economic Development Quarterly15 (1): 21–35.
51.
LoweryDavidLyonsWilliam E.DeHoogRuth Hoogland. 1990. “Institutionally-Induced Attribution Errors: Their Composition and Impact on Citizen Satisfaction with Local Government Services.” American Politics Quarterly18 (2):169–96.
52.
LubellMarkFeiockRichard C.RamerizEdgar E.2009. “Local Institutions and the Politics of Urban Growth.” American Journal of Political Science53 (3): 649–65.
53.
MatsusakaJohn G.2001. “Problems with a Methodology Used to Evaluate the Voter Initiative.” Journal of Politics63 (4): 1250–56.
54.
MatsusakaJohn G.2009. “Direct Democracy and Public Employees.” American Economic Review99 (5): 2227–46.
55.
MatsusakaJohn G.2010. “Popular Control of Public Policy: A Quantitative Approach.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science5:133–67.
56.
McCartyNolanPooleKeith T.RosenthalHoward. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
57.
MinkoffScott L.2012. “The Proximate Polity: Spatial Context and Political Risk in Developmental Goods.” Urban Affairs Review48 (3): 354–88.
58.
MullinsDaniel R.WallinBruce A.2004. “Tax and Expenditure Limitations: Introduction and Overview.” Public Budgeting & Finance24:2–15.
59.
NallClayton. Forthcoming. “The Political Consequences of Spatial Policies: How Interstate Highways Caused Geographic Polarization.” Journal of Politics58.
60.
OliverJ. EricHaShang E.2007. “Vote Choice in Suburban Elections.” American Political Science Review101 (3): 393–408.
61.
OstromVincentTieboutCharles M.WarrenRobert. 1961. “The Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry.” American Political Science Review55:831–42.
62.
PalusChristine Kelleher. 2010. “Responsiveness in American Local Governments.” State and Local Government Review42 (2): 133–50.
63.
ParkDavid K.GelmanAndrewBafumiJoseph. 2004. “Bayesian Multilevel Estimation with Poststratification: State-Level Estimates from National Polls.” Political Analysis12 (4): 375–85.
64.
PetersonPaul. 1981. City Limits. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
65.
PetrocikJohn R.1996. “Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study.” American Political Science Review40 (3): 825–50.
66.
PetrocikJohn R.BenoitWilliam L.HansenGlenn J.2003. “Issue Ownership and Presidential Campaigning, 1952-2000.” Political Science Quarterly118 (4): 599–626.
67.
PopkinSamuel L.1994. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persusaion in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
68.
RughJacob S.TrounstineJessica. 2011. “The Provision of Local Public Goods in Diverse Communities: Analyzing Municipal Bond Elections.” Journal of Politics73:1038–50.
69.
SchleicherDavid. 2007. “Why Is There No Partisan Competition in City Council Elections? The Role of Election Law.” American Politics Research23 (4): 419–73.
70.
ShipanCharles R.VoldenCraig. 2006. “Bottom-Up Federalism: The Diffusion of Antismoking Policies from U.S. Cities to States.” American Journal of Political Science50:825–43.
71.
ShipanCharles R.VoldenCraig. 2008. “The Mechanisms of Policy Diffusion.” American Journal of Political Science52:840–57.
72.
ShiresMichael A.1999. Patterns in California Government Revenues Since Proposition 13. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.
73.
SokolowAlvin D.1998. “The Changing Property Tax and State-Local Relations.” Publius28:165–87.
74.
SoraufFrank J.1980. Party Politics in America. 4th ed.Boston: Little, Brown.
75.
SteinRobert M.1981. “The Allocation of Federal Aid Monies: The Synthesis of Demand-Side and Supply-Side Explanations.” American Political Science Review75:334–43.
76.
StokerGerryMossbergerKaren. 1994. “Urban Regime Theory in Comparative Perspective.” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy12:195–212.
77.
StoneClarence N.SandersHeywood T.1987. The Politics of Urban Development. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
78.
TausanovitchChrisWarshawChristopher. 2014. “Representation in Municipal Government.” American Political Science Review108:605–41.
79.
TeafordJon C.1984. The Unheralded Triumph: City Government in America, 1870-1900. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
80.
TieboutCharles. 1956. “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures.” Journal of Political Economy54:416–24.
81.
VigdorJacob L.2004. “Other People’s Taxes: Nonresident Voters and Statewide Limitation of Local Government.” Journal of Law & Economics47:453–76.
82.
VoldenCraig. 2007. “Intergovernmental Grants: A Formal Model of Interrelated National and Subnational Political Decisions.” Publius37:209–43.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
