YSI Urban Economics Meeting: Places in Times of Austerity

Local government is so integral to daily life that it is often taken for granted — as are the fiscal systems that finance public services. However, in times of fiscal austerity, local governments' capability to provide services and infrastructure is put in check. On one hand, this ability grows more important every day as urbanization takes place and local governments shoulder increasingly complex responsibilities. On the other hand, austerity discourses seek to hollow out the municipal and state governments. The more than 200 U.S. municipal bankruptcies since 1980 reveal just the tip of the iceberg, as local governments worldwide quietly struggle to make ends meet. These challenges are even harder for local governments when natural or economic disasters occur, when headline stories from Detroit to New Orleans, Flint, Mariana, Brumadinho and Haiti highlight the severe impacts of fiscal stress. This workshop aims to debate the topic of austerity and its connection with urban policies. It is composed of a panel on the Municipal Fiscal Health Campaign by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the global think tank focused on land taxation and municipal health; a panel on the fiscal situation of the District of Columbia and its recent development policies; and a panel with scholars on the topic. Since it is going to take place one day before AAG, for the selected young scholars YSI/Inet will generously cover partially accommodation costs. Young scholars must submit a letter of motivation with their CV to ***[email protected]* to justify their presence in the workshop (it is NOT a call for papers). *DEADLINE: March 18, 2019.***