The Impact of Urban Riots on Urban Expenditures

In: American journal of political science: AJPS, Band 19, Heft 4, S. 741-760

Abstract

An examination of the relationship between riot incidence & changes in Ur expenditures & revenue, using 310 US cities of over 50,000 population as a data base. Cities were analyzed in terms of: (1) changes in expenditures considered relevant to the demands of blacks & whites, (2) four fiscal areas thought largely unrelated to either black or white demands, & (3) occurrence or nonoccurrence of riots. Results revealed greater increments in expenditures related to black & white demands in cities having riots as compared with those that did not, but the same difference did not appear in the other four expenditure areas. When structural variables were controlled, differences in police & fire expenditure increments remained, while differences in social welfare benefits were greatly reduced. This pattern of difference between riot & nonriot cities was not found to hold prior to 1965. Comparisons in expenditure gains were made among riot & nonriot cities having a variety of political characteristics (eg, political competitiveness, the presence of "reformed" political institutions) to ascertain the possible influence of political characteristics of the city on responsiveness to riots. 4 Tables. Modified HA.