United States Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project, 1983-1984 (ICPSR 8709)

Principal Investigator(s): Clark, Terry Nichols, et al.

Summary: For this data collection, mayors, city council finance committee chairs, and chief administrative officers/city managers in all United States cities with populations over 25,000 were surveyed. Topics covered include the relative importance of professional as opposed to elected officials in fiscal management, and preferences for and implementation of changes in spending levels in 13 policy areas (e.g., education, social welfare, streets, and police protection). Respondents also were... (more info)

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Clark, Terry Nichols, et al. United States Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project, 1983-1984. ICPSR08709-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1990. doi:10.3886/ICPSR08709.v1

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08709.v1

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This survey was funded by:

• United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HG-5644)

Summary:   For this data collection, mayors, city council finance committee chairs, and chief administrative officers/city managers in all United States cities with populations over 25,000 were surveyed. Topics covered include the relative importance of professional as opposed to elected officials in fiscal management, and preferences for and implementation of changes in spending levels in 13 policy areas (e.g., education, social welfare, streets, and police protection). Respondents also were queried about policy preferences, activities, and impact on city government of 20 groups (including employees, business groups, local media, the elderly, city finance staff, and federal and state agencies). In addition, questions were asked on city finance problems (e.g., loss of federal or state revenue, declining tax base, and pressures from municipal employees), fiscal management strategies the city had used (e.g., contracting out, user fees, privatization), revenue forecasting, integrated financial management systems, performance measures, management rights, and level of sophistication of economic development analyses. Background information on mayors includes terms served, years spent in elected office, political party identification, use of local media, age, ethnicity/race, sex, religious preference, and education. In addition to the survey data, detailed structural data on population, economic structures, industry, and the labor force are provided.

Subject Terms:   administrators, economic development, economic forecasting, education, expenditures, financial management, local government, management, police protection, policy analysis, privatization, public officials, social welfare

Geographic Coverage:   United States

Time Period:  

• 1983--1984

Date of Collection:  

• 1983--1984

Universe:   All United States municipal governments for cities with populations over 25,000 at the time of the 1980 Census.

Data Types:   survey, census, and aggregate data

Data Collection Notes:

This collection includes machine-readable and hard-copy documentation, both of which are required to adequately access and utilize the data. For Parts 1 through 8 of this collection, the data are provided in logical record length format, with multiple records per case.

Data Source:

(1) self-enumerated forms, (2) United States Bureau of the Census County and City Data Book, 1977, 1982, (3) United States Bureau of the Census City Government Finances in 1980, 1982, 1984, (4) International City Management Association Municipal Yearbooks and unpublished tapes, (5) Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations special reports and unpublished tapes

Original ICPSR Release:  1990-05-01

Version History:

• 2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 10 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.
• 2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 10 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.

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