Unequal Cities by Richard McGahey

Author:Richard McGahey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BUS067000, Business … Economics/Urban … Regional, POL002000, Political Science/Public Policy/City Planning … Urban Development
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2022-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

These four factors—sectoral economic change and disruption, federal anti-urban bias; state control of cities and metropolitan government fragmentation; and structural racism—have fed persistent and growing inequality across the American economy, among regions, and within metropolitan areas and cities themselves. Without attention to these structural factors, market-oriented policies fall short in addressing inequality in cities.

Policymakers and the public face considerable difficulties if they turn to economics for advice on inequality and urban economies. Differing views on how inequality affects growth result in very different policy responses. We have already noted differing points of view on whether regional governmental fragmentation is good or bad for growth; where innovation clusters come from; and how much education and human capital can be expected to increase regional prosperity, especially given racial discrimination in obtaining education and differential racial payoffs to education once obtained.

Fortunately, policymakers can draw from economists’ agreement that cities are the growth engines of modern societies. Policy divisions differ on how much and what active roles for government are in contrast to attention to individuals (largely advocating human capital acquisition). Should policy be place-based or people-based? As mayors and elected officials, community and labor advocates, and the public struggle to understand what cities can do on their own, it is important to sort through the confusing range of economic advice. The dominant individualized focus of market-oriented economists can obscure alternative economic analyses, and lead to policy recommendations that are at best partial and at worst counterproductive for addressing inequality.

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