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Contested Metropolis: Inequality and the Multilevel Governance of Metropolitan Regions in the USA

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Inequality and Governance in the Metropolis

Part of the book series: Comparative Territorial Politics ((COMPTPOL))

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Abstract

Regimes of place equality in larger US metropolitan regions most closely approximate the Tieboutian model of localized public goods provision. A liberal welfare state, liberal market capitalism and institutional autonomy for local governments reinforce these regimes. This chapter provides an overview of place equality regimes in five US metropolitan regions and analyzes their local consequences. The analysis demonstrates marked fiscal advantages for more affluent communities and disadvantages for communities facing greater hardship as well as African American and immigrant communities. Partial equalization in public education finance and more general redistributive arrangements in greater Minneapolis and other regions reflect long-standing struggles over equity in this Tieboutian setting. Contestation between neoliberal and place egalitarian reform movements remains an ongoing influence on US place equality regimes.

The authors would like to thank Doreen Grosvirt-Dramen, Mike Latner, Evan McKittrick, Miguel Eduardo del Mundo and Lilyanne Ohanesian for invaluable assistance and Dornsife College and the provost at the University of Southern California for support.

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Sellers, J.M., Petroy, E.R., Hondagneu-Messner, S. (2017). Contested Metropolis: Inequality and the Multilevel Governance of Metropolitan Regions in the USA. In: Sellers, J., Arretche, M., Kübler, D., Razin, E. (eds) Inequality and Governance in the Metropolis. Comparative Territorial Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57378-0_2

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