Poverty. Illiteracy. Crime. Unemployment. Riots.
Big cities so often appear to have terrible problems, and
Americans have a long history of convincing themselves that urban areas are in
crises and that the federal government must do something to improve matters.
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Edward C. Banfield argues the conventional wisdom is
incorrect. In The Unheavenly City Revisited, he presents rigorous
analyses showing that "by any conceivable measure of material welfare the
present generation of urban Americans is, on the whole, better off than any
other large group of people has ever been anywhere." He furthermore argues that
there is little evidence that the billions of dollars of government spending is
improving matters. Indeed, well-intended government actions have proved harmful
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The Unheavenly City Revisited cautions policymakers that
their biases may affect their perceptions of America's metropolitan areas.
Improving the lives of people in cities through government action is an
exceedingly complex enterprise. Government officials and citizens alike must be
realists about what government action can achieve.
