Does Anyone Care about the Poor? The Role of Redistribution in Mayoral Policy Agendas

Income inequality is widening in the United States, particularly in large cities. This study analyzes whether mayors address this issue through redistributive policies or economic development. State of the City addresses from 45 of the 50 largest cities were examined using the Policy Agendas framewo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:State & local government review 2015-12, Vol.47 (4), p.240-254
Main Authors: Leckrone, J. Wesley, Atherton, Michelle, Crossey, Nicole, Stickley, Andrea, Rubado, Meghan E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Economic development
Income inequality
Mayors
Social programs
Social welfare
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Income inequality is widening in the United States, particularly in large cities. This study analyzes whether mayors address this issue through redistributive policies or economic development. State of the City addresses from 45 of the 50 largest cities were examined using the Policy Agendas framework. The findings show that mayors favor economic development over redistribution. There is no evidence that demographic characteristics of cities affect a mayor's attention to social welfare programs. Mayors focusing on economic development come from poorer and more conservative cities. A large negative effect is found on economic development attention for segregated and highly nonwhite cities.
ISSN:0160-323X
1943-3409
DOI:10.1177/0160323X15624473