As bad as inequality is across the United States as a whole, it is even worse in our major cities. The inequality of America’s metro areas mirrors that of the some of the most unequal nations unearth: New York’s is comparable to Swaziland, Los Angeles’ similar to the Dominican Republic, Chicago’s comparable to El Salvador, and San Francisco's similar to Madagascar. America’s largest, densest, most affluent, and most liberal-leaning cities are, in fact, the places where inequality is the highest.
Bill de Blasio has put addressing inequality and New York’s tale of two cities at the center of his administration. But what are other mayors across the nation doing to address the growing gap between rich and poor?
That’s the focus of a recent study of 72 mayors by political scientists Katherine Levine Einstein and David Glick in Urban Affairs Review. The survey asks mayors directly about the priority they place on addressing inequality, the kinds of redistributive policies and programs they are using and prefer, and the trade-offs they make with regard to inequality and redistribution.
The survey gauges this through a series of questions such as such asking mayors: “What are your current top two policy priorities?” or “In the next year, on what two issues do you plan to expend the most political capital?” It also compares mayors’ responses to their public statements and actual policies.
[For more of this story, written by Richard Florida, go to http://www.citylab.com/politic...d-inequality/510032/]
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