Center for Economic and Policy Studies

When we think about shrinking cities, do we need a different analytical framework than when we think about "superstar" cities? Check back for new research on new thinking about Great Lakes metros.

Canada's "steel city" Hamilton in 2001 reorganized its governance to become a unified, regionalized metro after having lived for 150 years as a typical self-governing city surrounded by self-governing townships within a self-governing county. Other Ontario cities, including giant Toronto and capitol Ottawa, also consolidated and are now governed regionally. What lessons does the Hamilton experience have for Great Lakes metros like Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Syracuse and others? Does regional governance change economic outcomes? A new project of the Hamilton Community Foundation affords some insight into the policy process of a metro that approaches economic issues from a regional perspective.

The Center for Economic and Policy Studies is an interdisciplinary crossroads for public policy analysis, student research and community conversation at SUNY's only urban college. We host forums, share data, and provide analysis and testimony to federal, state and local officials. Starting in2010, this site will publish occasional papers by graduate students in the Applied Economics program at Buffalo State College.

Links to articles by Bruce Fisher and others that address issues of specail concern to the Great Lakes region.

Co-sponsored by Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE), the Northeast Midwest Institute, Partnership for the Public Good and the Buffalo Staet College Center for Economic and Policy Studies.