Document Information
Urban America
Policy Choices for Los Angeles and the Nation
The Los Angeles civil disturbances of 1992 brought America's long-term urban problems into new focus and raised concerns about the effectiveness of government solutions. This report attempts to provide answers in a series of essays on four general areas of urban problems: inner city; children, youth and families; crime and criminal justice; and public services and social welfare. Each essay defines the nature of the problem, describes and evaluates remedies tried in the past, and evaluates current policy ideas in terms of risks and benefits. The editors note that many serious urban problems lie outside local government's control, but federal decisionmakers have not been attentive to the effect of their policies at the local level. They suggest that, given the complexity of these problems, decisionmakers must be willing to implement policies that may benefit only a part of the target population. In addition, policymakers and the public need to have realistic expectations about what government can achieve, and must recognize that policy will have a limited effect at best if it tries to swim against broad social and economic currents.
See Also:
ReprintReprintReprintReprint
Related Report
Support RAND Research — Buy This Product!
Paperback Cover Price: $40.00
Discounted Web Price: $36.00
Pages: 378
ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-1281-9
Special 40% savings will be applied at checkout
Free, downloadable PDF file(s) are available below.
RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service. If you find this information valuable, please consider purchasing a paper copy of the full document to help support RAND research.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction PDF
Part I: Public Policy and the Inner City Across Three Decades
Chapter One:
Public Policy and the Inner City Across Three Decades
Robert A. Levine and Barbara R. Williams
Part 2: Children, Youth, and Families
Chapter Two:
The Widening Income and Wage Gap Between Rich and Poor: Trends, Causes, and Policy Options
Lynn A. Karoly
Chapter Three:
Families, Children, Poverty, Policy
Julie DaVanzo
Chapter Four:
Helping Urban Teenagers Avoid High-Risk Behavior: What We'Ve Learned from Prevention Research
Phyllis L. Ellickson
Chapter Five:
Urban Education
Paul T. Hill
Chapter Six:
Military Service: a Closing Door of Opportunity for Youth
James R. Hosek and Jacob Alex Klerman
Part 3: Crime and Criminal Justice
Chapter Seven:
Crime and Punishment in California: Full Cells, Empty Pockets, and Questionable Benefits
Joan Petersilia
Chapter Eight:
Reforming California'S Approach to Delinquent and High-Risk Youth
Peter W. Greenwood
Chapter Nine:
Street Drug Markets in Inner-City Neighborhoods
Peter H. Reuter and Robert J. Maccoun
Part 4: Public Services and Social Welfare
Chapter Ten:
Financing Public Services in Los Angeles
Preston Niblack and Peter J.E. Stan
Chapter Eleven:
Needed: a Federal Role in Helping Communities Cope with Immigration
Georges Vernez
Chapter Twelve:
Providing Health Care for the Uninsured and Underinsured in Los Angeles County
Robert E. Tranquada and Peter A. Glassman
Chapter Thirteen:
Getting Nowhere: Homeless People, Aimless Policy
Paul Koegel and Audrey Burnam
About the Contributors
Selected Rand Research
The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2008 RAND Corporation. 