This article examines the neighborhood economic development movement in Chicago from the late 1970s through summer 2002, with a focus on changes since the middle 1980s, when Harold Washington’s progressive regime provided much hope for those promoting community-based development...

Airports form the logistical core of metropolitan areas, improve economic development potential of regions, and are required to meet the demand for aviation services and to purchase increases in airport outputs. This study examines the relationship between aviation investments and outputs that...

This article first examines the question, “What is a living wage?†and provides a range of specific dollar amounts derived through a conceptual assessment of the term. It then provides a series of cost estimates of living wage laws in various cities. Based on these cost estimates, the...

During the past few decades, local governments have extended the scope of their activities in response to changing economic and political conditions. By and large, research on local governments neglects counties, now the fastest growing general-purpose governments. This article examines...

Business improvement districts (BIDs) have become popular commercial revitalization tools. To date, the literature has focused on the experiences of large BIDs in the wealthiest parts of the city. The author offers qualitative and quantitative data on 41 of New York City’s BIDs in an...

Public universities occupy a unique place in the R&D system of the United States because of their state-controlled missions, sources of funding, and administrative structures. State governments preferentially support public university research that benefits local industry to stimulate regional...

Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, the recent spatial redistribution of the urban poor does not necessarily bode well for the future. During the 1990s, the share of metropolitan population living in census tracts with high percentages (more than 40%) of poverty indeed fell significantly, but...

Rural America faces numerous challenges in building a high-wage, high-skilled workforce. Many rural communities are establishing workforce development networks that promote linkages across organizations and communities to more efficiently integrate and deliver a variety of services. Drawing on...

This article explores the effects of living wages on low-wage workers and low-income families. First, earlier analyses are updated using data for 1996 through 2002, and a number of criticisms of those analyses are addressed. This article confirms earlier findings that business-assistance living...

Advocates of living wage laws claim wage mandates will help families escape poverty by increasing family earnings beyond the poverty line. This article examines such programs and the effect a change in pay would have on taxes and benefits for low-income families in cities where living wage laws...