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160 Book Notes other government jurisdictions profit from our experience.” If they do, it will not be as a consequence of the publication of this booklet. New York: The Politics of Urban Regional Development, by Michael N. Danielson and Jameson W. Doigo. Berkeley: University of Califor- nia Press, 1982, 376 pp. Price: $27.50. The authors take on a daunting assignment-to ascertain whether government can really play a significant role in shaping the metropolis-and emerge with a brilliant analysis and, what is even more surprising in this literature, some clear answers. Using case studies of suburban and older city governments, highway, mass transit and urban renewal agencies, airport planners and economic development planners, and The New York Port Authority, they argue in lively prose, supplemented by effective diagrams and well-chosen photographs, that when they have the proper attributes, public bodies can make a substantial difference. Those attributes are wide areal scope, ability to focus resources, formal financial independence and insulation from constituency demands, and strong control over land use. Admitting first the well-known methodological problems in generalizing from case studies, the authors’ sophisticated handling of economic and political factors reader is both novel and persuasive. Setting Municipal Priorities, 1983, edited by Charles Brecher and Raymond D. Horton. New York: New York University Press, 1982, 252 pp. Price: $27.50. This is the fourth volume in an annual series on New York City’s fiscal problems. Special analyses include: local economic trends as they affect the tax base; foreign immigration, although no attempt is made to assess the costs imposed by legal and illegal immigrants on New York’s public services; the pessimistic prospects for inter- governmental aid; the promise of management reform and user charges in municipal services; the great extent of underfunding in public capital investment and maintenance; and the serious threat to home rule from the institutionalization of state intervention. The editors append to their admirable summary a series of by-now familiar spending, managerial inefficiencies, and rehabilitation of the intrastructure. Homiletic but salutary, as sermons often are. Anthony H. Pascal is a Senior Economist at the Rand Corporation. The Building Society Industry, by Mark Boliat. London: Allen & Unwin, 1982, 255 pp. Price: approximately $30.00 cloth, $12.00 paper. Boleat is deputy-secretary general of the Building Society Asso- ciation, “umbrella” organization of the British building societies. The book is timely; these mutual bodies, which provide the bulk of mortgage finance and attract an important slice of personal sav- ings, are changing within the increasingly competitive financial environment. The author’s inside position gives him valuable infor- mation. Particularly interesting are the portrayal of the relation-

Setting Municipal Priorities, 1983by Charles Brecher; Raymond D. Horton

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160 Book Notes

other government jurisdictions profit from our experience.” If they do, it will not be as a consequence of the publication of this booklet.

New York: The Politics of Urban Regional Development, by Michael N. Danielson and Jameson W. Doigo. Berkeley: University of Califor- nia Press, 1982, 376 pp. Price: $27.50.

The authors take on a daunting assignment-to ascertain whether government can really play a significant role in shaping the metropolis-and emerge with a brilliant analysis and, what is even more surprising in this literature, some clear answers. Using case studies of suburban and older city governments, highway, mass transit and urban renewal agencies, airport planners and economic development planners, and The New York Port Authority, they argue in lively prose, supplemented by effective diagrams and well-chosen photographs, t h a t when they have the proper attributes, public bodies can make a substantial difference. Those attributes are wide areal scope, ability to focus resources, formal financial independence and insulation from constituency demands, and strong control over land use. Admitting first the well-known methodological problems in generalizing from case studies, the authors’ sophisticated handling of economic and political factors reader is both novel and persuasive.

Setting Municipal Priorities, 1983, edited by Charles Brecher and Raymond D. Horton. New York: New York University Press, 1982, 252 pp. Price: $27.50.

This is the fourth volume in an annual series on New York City’s fiscal problems. Special analyses include: local economic trends as they affect the tax base; foreign immigration, although no attempt is made to assess the costs imposed by legal and illegal immigrants on New York’s public services; the pessimistic prospects for inter- governmental aid; the promise of management reform and user charges in municipal services; the great extent of underfunding in public capital investment and maintenance; and the serious threat to home rule from the institutionalization of state intervention. The editors append to their admirable summary a series of by-now familiar spending, managerial inefficiencies, and rehabilitation of the intrastructure. Homiletic but salutary, as sermons often are.

Anthony H . Pascal is a Senior Economist at the Rand Corporation.

The Building Society Industry, by Mark Boliat. London: Allen & Unwin, 1982, 255 pp. Price: approximately $30.00 cloth, $12.00 paper.

Boleat is deputy-secretary general of the Building Society Asso- ciation, “umbrella” organization of the British building societies. The book is timely; these mutual bodies, which provide the bulk of mortgage finance and attract an important slice of personal sav- ings, are changing within the increasingly competitive financial environment. The author’s inside position gives him valuable infor- mation. Particularly interesting are the portrayal of the relation-