Fiscal stress has caused some scholars to articulate a theory of austerity urbanism. Research from Prof. Warner’s Local Government Restructuring Lab finds limited support for the austerity view. Instead, we find local governments practice pragmatic municipalism – balancing service needs, local interests, and fiscal constraints.
Warner, Mildred E., Austin Aldag and Yunji Kim 2021. “Pragmatic Municipalism: US Local Government Responses to Fiscal Stress,” Public Administration Review, 81(3): 389-398. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13196 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/puar.13196/full.
Kim, Yunji and Mildred E. Warner 2020. “Pragmatic Municipalism or Austerity Urbanism? Understanding Local Government Responses to Fiscal Stress,” Local Government Studies, 47(2): 234-252. DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2020.1729751
Aldag, Austin, Yunji Kim and Mildred E. Warner. 2019. “Austerity Coalitions or Pragmatic Municipalism? Local Responses to Austerity in New York State,” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(6) 1287–1305. DOI: 10.1177/0308518X19844794
Liang, J., M.E. Warner, Y. Xu, and C. Zhang. March 2024. “NYS Property Tax Cap Impact Analysis: The First Decade.” Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University (Appendix)
