Local Government Law: Cases and Materials
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Description
This edition substantially expands the topics covered in the book and the discussion of theoretical tools that can be used to understand local government law. The basic approach remains the same. We focus on the unique role that local governments play in the federal system, and the distinctive characteristics of local governments that distinguish them from other levels of government. But we have added discussions of changes in local land use and zoning law and the effects of these laws on the local, regional, and national economies. There is also a new section discussing local fiscal distress and bankruptcy following the wave of municipal fiscal crises over the past few years. And we added a section on the separation of powers inside local governments, including materials on local administrative law, the poser of local executives, and reforms of local legislatures. We continue to ask some of the same theoretical and normative questions. How should our local “communities” be defined in practice, and who should decide? What is and should be the relationship that states and localities have with their citizens, other states and localities, and the federal government? Which level of government (if any) should provide a particular good or service, or regulate activity in a particular area? How should the goods and services provided by states and localities be paid for, and who should decide? As always, we have included discussions of the tools of democratic theory, microeconomic analysis, and public choice to help students develop answers to these questions. But we have also added new materials on agglomeration economics, or why people cluster in cities, and discussions of how changes in the form of and reasons for agglomeration can and should influence local government law. Further, we have expanded the discussion of public choice to include substantial materials on how the form and structure of local elections and local partisan (and non-partisan) politics can help explain the behavior of local governments.
Publication Date
2015
Edition
5
Recommended Citation
Baker, Lynn A.; Gillette, Clayton P.; and Schleicher, David, "Local Government Law: Cases and Materials" (2015). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 336.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/336
