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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dimensions of the Social Environment: Governmental

Overview

We consider characteristics and function of local area governments. Levels of funding are assessed, as well as the relative contributions from various revenue sources. Policies and legislation that have potential health effects; such as, obstacles to unionization, living wage or minimum wage ordinances, and employer requirements for health benefits are included. The nature and quality of local governmental services are also considered.

Municipal fragmentation refers to a situation in which large numbers of smaller governmental entities exist within a metropolitan area. In some cases where there are high levels of municipal fragmentation and no single government empowered to act for the entire region, a host of problems result, including resource and public service imbalances within the area and the protection of privilege (Mitchell–Weaver and Miller and Deal 2000; Ross and Levine 1996).

We also include two other components within the housing dimension. Regulations such as zoning and industrial/residential segregation can affect which residential areas are exposed to industrial pollution and other health threats such as increased traffic. Financial issues specific to housing, such as housing costs, the availability and characteristics of low–income housing, mortgage lending practices, and community reinvestment initiatives are also considered.

This table describes the components and indicators of the governmental dimension. Four governmental components are identified:

Within each component, several indicators are identified, and for each indicator at least one data set is listed.

One or more of the following files are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). Learn more about PDFs.

Components and Indicators

Data Sources and Notes

1. Funding: Revenue

Intergovernmental: Revenue from federal, state, and local government sources

Census of Governments
From this Web site page, select year of interest; select Vol. 4, No. 3, Finances of County Governments, or No. 4, Finances of Municipal and Townships Governments. Downloadable spreadsheet or comma–separated–value files available.

Taxes: Revenue from all taxes, property, income, and sales taxes

Census of Governments
From this Web site page, select State and Local Government Finances; select your year of interest. Downloadable spreadsheet or comma–separated–value files available.

Lottery: Revenue from lottery

Christiansen Capital Advisors
(http://www.cca-i.com)
From this Web site page, select Research; select Lottery Data. Excel files available for purchase.

Funding: Debt

Total debt outstanding

Census of Governments
From this Web site page, select your year of interest; select Vol. 4, No. 3, Finances of County Governments, or No. 4, Finances of Municipal and Township Governments. Downloadable spreadsheet or comma–separated–value files available.

2. Policy/Legislation: Obstacles to unionization

Obstacles to unionization

See Employment, Workforce Characteristics

Policy/Legislation: Living wage/minimum wage ordinances

Living wage laws enacted

ACORN Living Wage Resource Center*
From this Web site page, select Living Wage; select List of Cities and Counties Where Living Wage Ordinances Have Been Passed.

Minimum wage rate

U.S. Department of Labor
Interactive map providing details of state minimum wage rates.

3. Services: Privatization

Number of state programs and services privatized

Reason Public Policy Institute Privatization Center*
From this Web site page, select Privatization Database; select Statistics and Trends. Results of surveys on number of programs and services privatized by state.

Services: Local services/safety net resources

Percent of households reporting poor levels of city or county services and reporting poor levels of police protection in their neighborhood

American Housing Survey
Data for each of 47 selected Metropolitan Areas are collected about every 4 years, with an average of 12 areas included each year. Downloadable data in SAS and ASCII formats.

Expenditures on public welfare, health and hospitals, police and fire protection, parks and recreation, sewerage and sold waste management

4. Municipal fragmentation: Number of local governments

Number of local governments

Census of Governments
From this Web site page, select your year of interest; select Vol. 1, No. 1, Government Organization, or downloadable spreadsheet or comma–separated–value files.

Municipal Fragmentation: Metropolitan power diffusion index

Metropolitan power diffusion index

Mitchell–Weaver, C., D. Miller, and R. Deal. 2000. Multilevel Governance and Metropolitan Regionalism in the U.S.A. Urban Studies 37(5–6):851–76.

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