The Political Economy of Change in Urban Budgetary Politics: A Framework for Analysis and a Case Study

Few events shatter confidence in widely held theory more than failure to predict colossal changes. Just such an instance has occurred in the budgetary politics of American cities. City budgeting can no longer be accurately described in terms of an incremental model that assumes stability, routine decisions and marginal adjustments in public spending and taxation. More than a decade of dramatic and largely unanticipated change – fiscal crises, illegal deficits, new groups demanding public services, severe retrenchment, emergency bail-outs and more – has surely challenged the conventional wisdom.