Meghan E. Rubado

Discusses the ways in which local governments collaborate with one another, as well as with private and non-profit actors, in the context of sustained population loss and economic decline.

Discusses various ways in which local government boundaries can change, as well as related politics, challenges, and opportunities.

Examines the relationship between newspaper staffing decline and political outcomes in cities, and finds that shrinking newspapers are tied to reduced competition in mayoral races.

Finds that one local police department policy which requires officers to file a report when they point their guns, but do not shoot, is tied to reduced incidence of civilian gun deaths by police.

Finds that under conditions of drought, water suppliers' decisions to impose usage restrictions on their users are primarily driven by the severity of the problem conditions and are less affected by political consideration.

Discusses the ways in which state agencies exercise discretion in distributing funding through a federal drinking water investment program depend upon the expertise of the agencies in charge of these decisions. Agency discretion played out differently depending on whether the program was administered by environmentally-focused state agencies or finance-focused state agencies.