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Pragmatic municipalism or austerity urbanism? Understanding local government responses to fiscal stress

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  • Yunji Kim
  • Mildred E. Warner

Abstract

While national governments responded to the Great Recession with austerity, local government responses were varied. Two contrasting views are found in the literature: ‘austerity urbanism’ and ‘pragmatic municipalism’. We argue austerity urbanism best reflects local responses in contexts where local governments have limited autonomy and cuts in local government aid have been severe, such as Detroit in the US, England, and the southern states in the EU. Pragmatic municipalism best explains local responses in contexts where local governments have more fiscal autonomy, as in the US. Differences in state-local relations as well as methodology (case study or large-scale analysis) lead to these two different views. While responses to fiscal stress differ, we find the process opens up local government services to more marketisation in both contexts.

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  • Yunji Kim & Mildred E. Warner, 2021. "Pragmatic municipalism or austerity urbanism? Understanding local government responses to fiscal stress," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 234-252, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:47:y:2021:i:2:p:234-252
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2020.1729751
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Davidson & Kevin Ward, 2022. "Post-great recession municipal budgeting and governance: A mixed methods analysis of budget stress and reform," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 634-652, June.
    2. Jiang, Wei & Li, Xitao & Liu, Ruoxi & Song, Yijia, 2022. "Local fiscal pressure, policy distortion and energy efficiency: Micro-evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    3. Peng, Fei & Zhou, Shibiao & Zhou, Peng, 2023. "Local government fiscal stress and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1677-1695.
    4. Fei Peng & Shibiao Zhou & Tao Ding & Huaqing Wu, 2023. "Impact of fiscal expenditure stress on green transformation risk: evidence from China education authority reform," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4565-4601, December.
    5. Xu Zhang & Tianchu Feng & Chengjun Wang & Chaozhu Li, 2023. "Local Fiscal Pressure and Public Health: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Iliopoulos, Panagiotis & De Witte, Kristof, 2024. "The expenditure composition and trade-offs in local government budgets," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    7. Jakar, Gidon S. & Carr, Jeff & Rosentraub, Mark S., 2022. "A sport-anchored development district and densification: A comparative mixed effects analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    8. Mildred E Warner & Paige M Kelly & Xue Zhang, 2023. "Challenging austerity under the COVID-19 state," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(1), pages 197-209.

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