The emphasis in this report is on how public service quality affects urban decline and middle-class flight. It is pointed out that the key role in decline is played by neighborhood "external diseconomies," which result from the way municipal services are financed, produced, and distributed in metropolitan areas. It is also pointed out…

Between 1970 and 1977, the proportion of black children in metropolitan areas increased in all regions except the Northeast, while in all regions but the West the white population declined. Although the thrust toward school desegregation since the landmark "Brown vs. Board of Education" decision of 1954 has tended to exacerbate white and/or…