IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v35y1998i4p627-647.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Upper-middle-class Influence on Developmental Policy Outcomes: The Case of Transit Infrastructure

Author

Listed:
  • Herman L. Boschken

    (Department of Organisation and Management, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA, boschken-h@cob.sjsu.edu)

Abstract

Past research on urban economic development has targeted three major lines of inquiry on determinants of policy outcomes. One focuses on the power of political actors engaged in agency processes. Another looks at institutional structure and the third emphasises physical and social 'preconditions' of urban structure. Although heavily researched, none of these approaches has produced conclusive empirical results. In part, this may be due to the research being nearly void of inquiry into the issue of 'indirect social influence'. This paper probes the thesis that variance in economic development outcomes is determined in part by agencies perceiving anonymous publics where no direct interaction is involved. It examines this with reference to an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Using infrastructure investment of 42 transit agencies across the US, regression results show a UMC factor to be more significant in explaining differences in policy outcomes than those of traditional rival theses. The paper concludes with an inferential analysis of why and how such indirect influence might occur.

Suggested Citation

  • Herman L. Boschken, 1998. "Upper-middle-class Influence on Developmental Policy Outcomes: The Case of Transit Infrastructure," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(4), pages 627-647, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:4:p:627-647
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098984673
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098984673
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098984673?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schneider, Anne & Ingram, Helen, 1993. "Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 334-347, June.
    2. Gramlich, Edward M, 1994. "Infrastructure Investment: A Review Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 1176-1196, September.
    3. Cervero, Robert & Landis, John, 1991. "Suburbanization of Jobs And the Journey to Work," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt29p3n2wf, University of California Transportation Center.
    4. Chubb, John E., 1985. "The Political Economy of Federalism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(4), pages 994-1015, December.
    5. Lineberry, Robert L. & Fowler, Edmund P., 1967. "Reformism and Public Policies in American Cities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(3), pages 701-716, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Atolia, Manoj & Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2010. "How misleading is linearization? Evaluating the dynamics of the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1550-1571, September.
    2. Maddison, Jonathan & Watts, Richard, 2011. "The technological fix as a frame in media debates about tailpipe emissions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 294-303.
    3. Fritz Sager & Yvan Rielle, 2013. "Sorting through the garbage can: under what conditions do governments adopt policy programs?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(1), pages 1-21, March.
    4. repec:lrk:lrkwkp:fiirs016 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ingrid Ott & Susanne Soretz, 2006. "Governmental activity, integration, and agglomeration," Working Paper Series in Economics 57, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    6. Feng, Qu & Wu, Guiying Laura, 2018. "On the reverse causality between output and infrastructure: The case of China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 97-104.
    7. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    8. Gulyani, Sumila, 2001. "Effects of Poor Transportation on Lean Production and Industrial Clustering: Evidence from the Indian Auto Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1157-1177, July.
    9. Elisabeth R. Gerber & Clark C. Gibson, 2009. "Balancing Regionalism and Localism: How Institutions and Incentives Shape American Transportation Policy," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 633-648, July.
    10. Andreas Stephan, 1997. "The Impact of Road Infrastructure on Productivity and Growth: Some Preliminary Results for the German Manufacturing Sector," CIG Working Papers FS IV 97-47, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    11. Urrunaga, Roberto & Aparicio, Carlos, 2012. "Infrastructure and economic growth in Peru," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    12. Zheng, Xinye & Li, Fanghua & Song, Shunfeng & Yu, Yihua, 2013. "Central government's infrastructure investment across Chinese regions: A dynamic spatial panel data approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 264-276.
    13. BADALYAN, Gohar & HERZFELD, Thomas & RAJCANIOVA, Miroslava, 2014. "Transport Infrastructure And Economic Growth: Panel Data Approach For Armenia, Georgia And Turkey," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 17(2), pages 1-10, October.
    14. Frank R. Baumgartner & Christine Mahoney, 2008. "Forum Section: The Two Faces of Framing," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(3), pages 435-449, September.
    15. Marrocu, Emanuela & Paci, Raffaele, 2011. "They arrive with new information. Tourism flows and production efficiency in the European regions," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 750-758.
    16. Knut Sandberg Eriksen, 2011. "Do road investments lead to economic growth?," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1613, European Regional Science Association.
    17. Matthew Abiodun Dada, 2015. "Theoretical Analysis of Microeconomic Effect of Public Investment," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(1), pages 1-7, March.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5253 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Antonio Soares Martins Neto & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2017. "Competitive Exchange Rate and Public Infrastructure in a Macrodynamic of Economic Growth," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 792-815, November.
    20. Juan Martín & Gustavo Nombela, 2007. "Microeconomic impacts of investments in high speed trains in Spain," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 41(3), pages 715-733, September.
    21. Herranz-Loncan, Alfonso, 2007. "Infrastructure investment and Spanish economic growth, 1850-1935," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 452-468, July.
    22. Giacomello, Giampiero & Picci, Lucio, 2003. "My scale or your meter? Evaluating methods of measuring the Internet," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 363-383, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:4:p:627-647. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.