At one time the study of urban politics represented a core part of the larger political science discipline. But, starting in the late 1960s, and for several decades thereafter, the subfield languished. As political science moved toward the field of economics in its orientation, urban politics remained solidly apart.

However, the last 20 years have seen a resurgence in the field, largely driven by the availability of new and exciting sources of data -- often through the digitization of historical Census data, local election returns, and sub-state opinion polls. These data have allowed interesting and important public policy questions to be examined from a causal perspective. Moreover, as politics at the national level has polarized, more and more policy issues are dealt with at the local level — lest governance stop altogether. The Local Political Economy Symposium at USC brings together nationally renowned scholars who study the most pressing political-economic issues at the local level — from compensation of public employees, to municipal bankruptcy, to criminal justice reform.

For more details, please check out the symposium page: https://bedrosian.usc.edu/pipe/local-political-economy-symposium/