Subject(s): Politics -- Muncipal elections -- Democracy in United States -- Political participation in United States -- Municipal government in United States -- Cities and towns in United States -- Politics and competition in American cities -- Minority and women representation -- Political parties in a non-partisan context -- Economic and political factors in public policy making -- Large cities, economists, underclass and urban problems -- Sample of American cities -- Elections, Mayor, Voting , Representativeness in institutional formate -- Heterogeneous cities -- Origins of competition in municipal elections -- Measuring competition in elections -- City politics -- Election: institutional factor, Demographic factor -- Impact of competition in municipal elections -- Public policy -- City development growth -- Unemployment and jobs -- Housing -- Increased retail sales -- Growth population -- City expenditure -- Competition and the scale of local government -- Property tax -- crime and police expenditure -- Improving representation of those normally underrepresented -- General revenue -- African american representation -- Total turnover in 29 city elections -- Regional governance -- American municipal elections in the 1990s: summary of findings -- Municipal elections in the 1980s and 1990s -- Incumbents success in elections