State rescaling and local governments' austerity policies across the USA, 2001-2008

This study examines the geography of local austerity policies across the USA. We contrast two perspectives, the political economy framework that sees a general shift towards the use of limited government austerity policies across regions and over time and newer state-rescaling literature that challenges this view. Analyses are based on data collected in 2008 with cross-time policy comparisons with 2001 from over 1700 counties. The findings indicate unique features of local bureaucracies, particularly administrative staff and unionized workers, and governance pressures are important in setting austerity policy responses. The findings support the state-rescaling view of new spatial dimensions to the adoption of austerity policies. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.