The Politics of Equity and Growth: A Case Study of Rockford, Illinois

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2005

HC108

2004-064990

0-7734-6182-5

The politics of equity and growth; a case study of Rockford, Illinois.

Veal, Don-Terry. (Studies in political science; v.24)

Edwin Mellen Pr., [c]2005

105 p.

$89.95

Veal (government studies, Auburn U.) examines the tensions between distributive equity and productive efficiency in a case study from the US Midwest, examining the trickle-down effect of economic development as espoused by market theorists in the urban economic development literature. Like many leaders, he says, policymakers in Rockford use the trickle-down logic of market theory to justify a considerable portion of their budgetary allocations, using the argument that it bridges the tension between equity and efficiency. One of his findings is that the choice between development and redistribution is a false dichotomy, because both can be pursued at the same time.