Conflicting pressures to increase public expenditure and restrict taxation have created fiscal stress in many major cities. In Britain, the problem is highlighted because central government is responsible for so large a portion of local government revenue, but not for its spending. The object of this book is to identify the extent, the causes and consequences of fiscal stress as it affected local government in the 1980s. To do this, the editors have brought together a multidisciplinary team of scholars working on the substantive problems facing cities, as well as experts in the urban economy and central-local government relations.