The Urban Impact of Federal Policies: Their Direct and Indirect Effects on the Local Public Sector,

There is growing recognition by researchers and practicioners alike that federal urban policy must be defined much more broadly than it has been in the past. The federal influence on cities involves much more than a handful of explicityly urban programs--more even than the whole array of federal programs that channel funds to urban jurisdictions and their citizens. Spokesmen for the urban public interest groups now refer to the implicit or hidden urban policy of the federal government. These terms are meant to encompass not only expenditure programs, but a spectrum of federal actions ranging from tax policy to macroeconomic policy to regulation of business to enforcement of the civil rights laws. But although this broadened view of federal urban policy has become established in rhetoric, it has not yet been assimilated into policymaking, policy analysis, or policy-proposing processes.