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The adoption of commission and managerial administrative structures and their subsequent abandonment by the 267 largest American cities during the period 1900-1942 is studied using event-history methods. Full-period equations show no significant direct effect of percentage Catholic (culture clash) or population size (hierarchical diffussion) and only a modest impact of city age (modernization). A strong effect from average annual manufacturing wages is found, but in a direction contrary to that posited by the class-conflict hypothesis. The variable affecting transition rates most strongly appears to be regional adoption percentages, an indicator of neighborhood diffusion. These findings suggest revisions of the conventional image of the municipal reform experience.
David Knoke (1982) studied this question.