Author's Blog: Gender, Political Rhetoric, and Moral Metaphors in State of the City Addresses

This is an author-produced blog post to introduce upcoming Urban Affairs Review articles.  This article is now available in Online First.

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Gender, Political Rhetoric, and Moral Metaphors in State of the City Addresses

Mirya R. Holman

Tulane University

Abstract: Politicians and leaders use metaphors and frames in political communication to provide citizens with meaning, persuade, and promote emotional reactions. At the same time, a large body of scholarship documents the propensity for female leaders to “speak in a different voice” when in political office. Research to date on policy metaphors, however, rarely compares male and female leaders’ use of metaphors or evaluates the use of these metaphors in local politics. Using State of the City addresses from sixteen cities to evaluate the connection between policy agendas, metaphors, and mayoral gender, I find that male and female leaders emphasize similar issues in their speeches, but use different frames to present these issues, with female leaders using more nurturing framing than do male leaders. In addition, while both male and female mayors emphasize economic development as the central issue in their speeches, female mayors use more inclusive framing in these discussions. 

Online First: Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision Evidence from U.S. Municipalities and School Districts

Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision

Evidence from U.S. Municipalities and School Districts

1. Soomi Lee1
2. Dongwon Lee2
3. Thomas E. Borcherding3

1. ¹University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, USA
2. ²Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
3. ³Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA

1. Dongwon Lee, Department of Economics, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul 110-745, South Korea. Email: danlee200@skku.edu

Abstract

We revisit the claim that ethnic heterogeneity—the degree to which different ethnic groups make up the population—reduces local government spending on various public goods. Our analysis suggests that heterogeneity does not necessarily reduce local public spending due to two factors: (1) the low price elasticity of demand for local public goods and (2) the substitution between public goods. Using data from American cities and school districts from 2000 to 2010, we find that ethnic heterogeneity has offsetting positive and negative effects on various types of local government spending. Our findings imply that local governments respond to an increase in ethnic heterogeneity by rebalancing local public spending—for instance, adopting a policy that reallocates resources from roads to police and fire protection.

• ethnic heterogeneity
 
• public goods
 
• local government expenditure
• government size
• • http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/08/1078087415587055.abstract

Authors' Blog: Housing Choice Voucher Holders and Neighborhood Crime: A Dynamic Panel Analysis from Chicago

This is an author-produced blog post to introduce upcoming Urban Affairs Review articles. This article is now available in OnlineFirst. 

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Housing Choice Voucher Holders and Neighborhood Crime:

A Dynamic Panel Analysis from Chicago

Leah Hendey,* George Galster,** Susan J. Popkin,* Chris Hayes*

* Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute

** Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Wayne State University

2015

Efforts to “deconcentrate poverty” through the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program could potentially produce unintended adverse consequences for the neighborhoods into which HCV holders move.  The most salient concern expressed has been reputed upsurges in violent and property crime.  To date, there is limited credible evidence on this issue, as scholars must successfully confront two fundamental challenges. First, causation may operate in both directions.  In-migrating HCV holders could increase crime rates as many have speculated, but they may also be more likely to move to neighborhoods where crime is already increasing because rents are cheaper there and landlords may be more actively recruiting them there.  Secondly, any observed positive relationship between crime and HCV holders may be spurious if the growth of both in a neighborhood is caused by other (often hard-to-measure) neighborhood characteristics that are not statistically controlled.