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912. Annexation and the Fiscal Fate of Cities
- Author:
- David Rusk
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- An analysis of the relationship between the annexation patterns and fiscal health of the nation's largest cities shows that: A city's ability to annex land from its surrounding county is a primary determinant of its fiscal health. Cities with greater abilities to annex have much higher bond rating scores. Of cities in large metropolitan areas, every city that expanded its boundaries by as little as 15 percent between 1950 and 2000 had a high bond rating in 2002. Conversely, all cities with low bond ratings are those that had been unable to expand their boundaries. The ability to annex land varies widely by region and state. Most high- bond-rated cities are located in “big box” states (primarily in the South and West) where land is more easily annexed. Most low-bond-rated cities are in “little box” states (primarily in the Northeast and Midwest) where land is more difficult, or impossible, to annex. Annexation is far from an outmoded, dying practice. During the 1990s, about 90 percent of the central cities that could annex additional land did so. Collectively, in just one decade they expanded their municipal territory by more than 3,000 square miles.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States
913. Bearing the Brunt: Manufacturing Job Loss in the Great Lakes Region, 1995-2005
- Author:
- Howard Wial and Alec Friedhoff
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Analysis of manufacturing employment and production in seven Great Lakes states and their metropolitan areas from 1995 through 2005 finds that: More than one-third of the nation's loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Between 1995 and 2005, the United States lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs. Nearly all of this job loss occurred during the last five years, and 37.5 percent of the loss occurred in the seven Great Lakes states. Michigan lost the most manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 (nearly 218,000), followed by Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Despite these job losses, manufacturing remains a major driver of the nation's economy and the economy of the Great Lakes region. Because productivity was higher in manufacturing than in other sectors of the economy, in 2004, manufacturing accounted for a higher share of gross state product than its share of employment, both nationwide and in six of the seven states in the Great Lakes manufacturing belt. In addition, productivity in the manufacturing sector increased by 38 percent between 1997 and 2004, a much higher increase than the 24.4 percent growth in productivity for all non-farm businesses during that same time period. Manufacturing job losses were pervasive in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. All but one of the 25 largest manufacturing-dependent metropolitan areas in the Great Lakes region lost manufacturing jobs during the last decade (1995–2005), often at a faster rate than the United States as a whole. Chicago and Detroit lost the most manufacturing jobs in the last five years (over 100,000 jobs each), while Canton, OH, and Flint, MI, lost the greatest shares of manufacturing employment. The metropolitan areas in which manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 tended to experience more severe manufacturing job losses between 1995 and 2005 than those in which manufacturing peaked later. The 13 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 saw an average 26.8 percent decline in manufacturing employment between 1995 and 2005. In the other 11 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked later, between 1998 and 2000, the average metropolitan area lost 18.9 percent of its manufacturing jobs during the decade. Manufacturing job losses were a major reason for slow overall job growth, and sometimes overall job losses, in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. Furthermore, employment gains in high-wage advanced service industries, which occurred in all but one of the 25 metropolitan areas studied, were not large enough to offset the loss of manufacturing jobs in most areas.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States, New York, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan
914. Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America
- Author:
- George Galster, Jackie Cutsinger, and Jason C. Booza
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Middle-income families, the icon of the American Dream, have become a somewhat less prominent part of the American demographic profile over the last quartercentury. Numerous researchers have documented how growing economic inequality in the U.S., characterized by an increasing bifurcation of the income distribution, has slowed the growth of a once-broad American middle class.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
915. Delivering a Local EITC: Lessons from the San Francisco Working Families Credit
- Author:
- Tiana Wertheim and Tim Flacke
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- For families struggling to make ends meet on earnings from low-wage jobs, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become an essential form of support, boosting the size of annual tax refunds by as much as several thousand dollars. The program is widely recognized for its accessibility (working through the tax code and tax filing system), administrative efficiency and simplicity, and its effectiveness in lifting working poor house- holds out of poverty. Why then shouldn't the EITC serve as a model for other programs for working families, particularly in parts of the country where high costs of living create added difficulties for lower-income residents?
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States and San Francisco
916. Fulfilling the Promise: Seven Steps to Successful Community-Based Information Strategies
- Author:
- Pari Sabety
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- While some neighborhoods in American cities are resurgent, many others remain stubbornly entrenched in a cycle of underinvestment. A contributing factor is that—despite thriving immigrant populations, high volumes of cash transactions, and relatively stable housing markets—these neighborhoods are victims of an urban information gap which undervalues their commercial potential. The importance of good information for private and public investments is widely acknowledged, but fragmented funding, lack of standards, and spotty data has impeded either effective or universal use of these tools. This paper sets forth seven steps for practitioners and investors to follow in investing in local community information initiatives and, in turn, close the urban information gap and accelerate investment in these markets.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
917. Financial Access for Immigrants: Lessons from Diverse Perspectives
- Author:
- Audrey Singer, Jeremy Smith, Robin Newberger, and Anna Paulson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The United States has long benefited from the aspirations, talents, and hard work of the many immigrants who have settled here. Each generation has debated the costs of immigration and its benefits and grappled with how best to incorporate immigrants into U.S. society. The unparalleled size and growth of the contemporary immigrant population means that these conversations and debates continue today in communities throughout the country. The well-being of the nation increasingly depends on whether immigrants' economic progress keeps up with their demographic growth.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States
918. Credit Scores, Reports, and Getting Ahead in America
- Author:
- Matt Fellowes
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Everyday, more than 27,000 employees in the credit bureau industry walk into over 1,000 locations around the country and process over 66 million items of information. Out of this massive churning of activity, credit bureaus produce consumer credit reports and scores, two of the most powerful determinants of modern American consumer life.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
919. Making Sense of Clusters: Regional Competitiveness and Economic Development
- Author:
- Joseph Cortright
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- In recent years, "cluster strategies" have become a popular economic development approach among state and local policymakers and economic development practitioners. An industry cluster is a group of firms, and related economic actors and institutions, that are located near one another and that draw productive advantage from their mutual proximity and connections. Cluster analysis can help diagnose a region's economic strengths and challenges and identify realistic ways to shape the region's economic future. Yet many policymakers and practitioners have only a limited understanding of what clusters are and how to build economic development strategies around them.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
920. One-Fifth of the Nation: America's First Suburbs
- Author:
- David Warren and Robert Puentes
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- One of the more encouraging metropolitan policy trends over the last several years is the increased attention on America's older, inner-ring, “first” suburbs. Beginning generally with Myron Orfield's Metropolitics in 1997, a slow but steady stream of research has started to shine a bright light on these places and begun to establish the notion that first suburbs have their own unique set of characteristics and challenges that set them apart from the rest of metropolitan America. Since then first suburbs in a few regions have assumed a small, but significant, role in advancing research and policy discussions about metropolitan growth and development.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States and America