Cities on the Brink: The Dynamics of Fiscal Retrenchment

In Cities on the Brink: The Dynamics of Fiscal Retrenchment, Benedict S. Jimenez, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Northeastern University, shares the results of the Municipal Fiscal Retrenchment and Recovery survey of managers, budget and finance directors on strategies that city governments have deployed in the ongoing fiscal retrenchment that has followed the Great Recession of 2007–2009. Results show an emphasis on cutting expenditures over revenue-raising approaches, to get by year after year—and that the majority of cities say they are on the precipice of another budget crisis. This lecture is the first in the 2015–2016 series that is part of the Lincoln Institute’s campaign to promote municipal fiscal health.