Urban Issues

Our Research & Offerings on Urban Issues

WebMemo posted September 15, 2011 by Wendell Cox How Smart Growth and Livability Intensify Air Pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to implement stronger air pollution restrictions on ozone (smog) for the stated purpose of improving public health.[1] These regulations are misguided because they would impose significant costs for little or no benefit.[2] At the same time, policies being implemented at… Read more
Commentary posted April 17, 2008 by Rebecca Hagelin Congress & The Mortgage Madness: Leave Things A-Loan
Americans are a compassionate people. Faced with media reports about the rising tide of foreclosures, it's understandable that many feel tempted to applaud federal action -- to agree that politicians should "do something" to help people stay in their homes. Should the government try and come to the rescue?… Read more
Legal Memorandum posted February 14, 2008 by Brian Walsh, Andrew Grossman Human Trafficking Reauthorization Would Undermine Existing Anti-Trafficking Efforts and Constitutional Federalism
The scourge of human trafficking is a global phenomenon. Widely considered a "modern-day form of slavery," trafficking occurs when the powerless "are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor."[1] Over the past decade, federal and state officials have greatly stepped up their law-making… Read more
WebMemo posted October 16, 2007 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Washington Metro Needs Reform, Not a Federal Bailout
Both the House and Senate will soon have an opportunity to vote on legislation introduced by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) to divert $1.5 billion of federal revenues over 10 years to provide additional subsidies to the deeply troubled Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which serves the nation's capital and his congressional district with buses… Read more
Commentary posted October 11, 2007 by Helle Dale Skeptics needed
Being the voice of reason in a debate where emotions and political agendas have captured the popular imagination takes great courage. In discussions of climate change today, you will run into assertions ranging from the "fact" that the polar ice cap will melt and reverse the Gulf Stream to the "fact" that 80 percent… Read more
Commentary posted October 11, 2007 by James Sherk Heat on volunteer firefighters
You probably haven't heard Congress is about to shut down many of America's volunteer fire departments. Not intentionally, perhaps. Yet a little-known bill advancing through Congress would do just that. Nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments protect tens of millions of Americans and their homes from fires.… Read more
Executive Summary posted June 6, 2007 by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Erica Little Executive Summary: Gang Crime: Effective and ConstitutionalPolicies to Stop Violent Gangs
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2006 that violent crime incidents increased by 1.3 percent and property crime incidents decreased by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006. The small increase in violent crime needs to be interpreted with caution because the figure does not adjust for population growth. Thus, the actual increase in violent… Read more
Legal Memorandum posted June 6, 2007 by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Erica Little Gang Crime: Effective and Constitutional Policies to Stop ViolentGangs
Executive Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2006 that violent crime incidents increased by 1.3 percent and property crime incidents decreased by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006.[1] The small increase in violent crime needs to be interpreted with caution because the figure does not adjust for… Read more
Commentary posted November 25, 2006 by Tim Kane, Ph.D. Celebrity Professor Proposes Wrong Cure for Poverty
… Read more
WebMemo posted September 28, 2005 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. After Weeks of Confusion, the Right Course for Evacuee Housing Assistance
Since the confused start of the post-Katrina rescue and relief effort, the federal government has provided mixed signals on how it intends to provide housing assistance to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gulf Coast residents. Temporarily sheltered in sports arenas, convention centers, armories, and church basements in locations far from their homes, most of… Read more

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Legal Memorandum posted June 6, 2007 by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Erica Little Gang Crime: Effective and Constitutional Policies to Stop ViolentGangs
Executive Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2006 that violent crime incidents increased by 1.3 percent and property crime incidents decreased by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006.[1] The small increase in violent crime needs to be interpreted with caution because the figure does not adjust for… Read more
Backgrounder posted March 21, 2005 by Stephen Johnson, David Muhlhausen, Ph.D. North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence
Youth gangs are nothing new. They appeared in New York City and Philadelphia at the end of the American Revolution. Their numbers and violence correspond to peak levels of Immigration and population shifts that occurred in the early 1800s, 1920s, 1960s, and late 1990s. Entrenched in American culture, gangs are romanticized in movies while… Read more
Backgrounder posted September 1, 1998 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. What to Do About the Cities
America's older cities are still in trouble. More than three decades of federal programs and hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to stem the decline have had little effect on the pace of deterioration--and may have accelerated it. These cities have been steadily losing jobs, businesses, and residents since 1950, but the decline worsened… Read more
Backgrounder posted January 27, 2004 by Wendell Cox, Randal O'Toole The Contribution of Highways and Transit to Congestion Relief: ARealistic View
Does building freeways only lead to more congestion? Can investments in transit, particularly rail transit, help relieve congestion? Since the early 1980s, the Annual Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI)--a part of the engineering department at Texas A&M University--has helped to answer these questions by estimating traffic… Read more
Executive Memorandum posted June 9, 1992 by Stuart M. How to Create a Successful Enterprise Zone Program
(Archived document, may contain errors) 0/92 334 HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE ZONE PRO GRAM After twelve years of deliberation, and pushed into long-m@ action by the recent riot in Los Angola, Congress at last seems poised to enact enterprise zone legisiatioti. What lawmakers now must do is remember the purpose of… Read more
Backgrounder posted March 25, 1991 by Carl Horowitz An Empowerment Strategy For Eliminating Neighborhood Crime
Introduction A common and false allegation about urban life in America is that conditions in poor neighborhoods "force" residents into a life of crime. This view initially gained popularity after the urban rioting of the 1960s, specifically in the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission Report. While some… Read more
Backgrounder posted March 18, 1999 by Wendell Cox The President's New Sprawl Initiative: A Program in Search of a Problem
For decades, American urban areas have grown in land area much more than they have grown in population. This geographic expansion is often attributed to increasing dependence on the automobile and construction of the interstate highway (freeway) system. A relatively new school of urban planners, the "new urbanists," blame the expanding urban area for… Read more
Backgrounder posted June 28, 2002 by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., Krista Kafer AmeriCorps: Still a Bad Idea for Citizen Service
Since September 11, policymakers across the political spectrum have recognized anew the importance of citizen engagement and philanthropic volunteerism to a thriving civil society. The possibility of building "a new culture of responsibility" undergirds President George W. Bush's challenge, in his recent State of the Union Address, to each American to commit 4,000 hours to serving… Read more
WebMemo posted September 15, 2011 by Wendell Cox How Smart Growth and Livability Intensify Air Pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to implement stronger air pollution restrictions on ozone (smog) for the stated purpose of improving public health.[1] These regulations are misguided because they would impose significant costs for little or no benefit.[2] At the same time, policies being implemented at… Read more
Commentary posted April 17, 2008 by Rebecca Hagelin Congress & The Mortgage Madness: Leave Things A-Loan
Americans are a compassionate people. Faced with media reports about the rising tide of foreclosures, it's understandable that many feel tempted to applaud federal action -- to agree that politicians should "do something" to help people stay in their homes. Should the government try and come to the rescue?… Read more

Find more work on Urban Issues

WebMemo posted September 15, 2011 by Wendell Cox How Smart Growth and Livability Intensify Air Pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to implement stronger air pollution restrictions on ozone (smog) for the stated purpose of improving public health.[1] These regulations are misguided because they would impose significant costs for little or no benefit.[2] At the same time, policies being implemented at… Read more
Legal Memorandum posted February 14, 2008 by Brian Walsh, Andrew Grossman Human Trafficking Reauthorization Would Undermine Existing Anti-Trafficking Efforts and Constitutional Federalism
The scourge of human trafficking is a global phenomenon. Widely considered a "modern-day form of slavery," trafficking occurs when the powerless "are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor."[1] Over the past decade, federal and state officials have greatly stepped up their law-making… Read more
WebMemo posted October 16, 2007 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Washington Metro Needs Reform, Not a Federal Bailout
Both the House and Senate will soon have an opportunity to vote on legislation introduced by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) to divert $1.5 billion of federal revenues over 10 years to provide additional subsidies to the deeply troubled Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which serves the nation's capital and his congressional district with buses… Read more
Executive Summary posted June 6, 2007 by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Erica Little Executive Summary: Gang Crime: Effective and ConstitutionalPolicies to Stop Violent Gangs
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2006 that violent crime incidents increased by 1.3 percent and property crime incidents decreased by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006. The small increase in violent crime needs to be interpreted with caution because the figure does not adjust for population growth. Thus, the actual increase in violent… Read more
Legal Memorandum posted June 6, 2007 by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Erica Little Gang Crime: Effective and Constitutional Policies to Stop ViolentGangs
Executive Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2006 that violent crime incidents increased by 1.3 percent and property crime incidents decreased by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006.[1] The small increase in violent crime needs to be interpreted with caution because the figure does not adjust for… Read more
WebMemo posted September 28, 2005 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. After Weeks of Confusion, the Right Course for Evacuee Housing Assistance
Since the confused start of the post-Katrina rescue and relief effort, the federal government has provided mixed signals on how it intends to provide housing assistance to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gulf Coast residents. Temporarily sheltered in sports arenas, convention centers, armories, and church basements in locations far from their homes, most of… Read more
Backgrounder posted March 21, 2005 by Stephen Johnson, David Muhlhausen, Ph.D. North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence
Youth gangs are nothing new. They appeared in New York City and Philadelphia at the end of the American Revolution. Their numbers and violence correspond to peak levels of Immigration and population shifts that occurred in the early 1800s, 1920s, 1960s, and late 1990s. Entrenched in American culture, gangs are romanticized in movies while… Read more
Executive Summary posted March 21, 2005 by Stephen Johnson, David Muhlhausen, Ph.D. Executive Summary: North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence
Youth gangs have been a familiar part of American urban life since the American Revolution. Today, because of their growing size and globalization, they also pose a serious threat to public security. Groups that began in Los Angeles during the 1960s and 1980s now have fraternal links to an estimated 130,000 to 300,000 members in… Read more
Executive Summary posted January 27, 2004 by Wendell Cox, Randal O'Toole Executive Summary: The Contribution of Highways and Transit to Congestion Relief: A Realistic View
The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) released The 2003 Annual Urban Mobility Report in September 2003, but in contrast to past years, when the report's financial backers and sponsors were largely limited to government transportation departments, this year's report received funding from, and was co-sponsored by, the American Public Transportation Association and the American… Read more
Backgrounder posted January 27, 2004 by Wendell Cox, Randal O'Toole The Contribution of Highways and Transit to Congestion Relief: ARealistic View
Does building freeways only lead to more congestion? Can investments in transit, particularly rail transit, help relieve congestion? Since the early 1980s, the Annual Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI)--a part of the engineering department at Texas A&M University--has helped to answer these questions by estimating traffic… Read more

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