BAUMOL:UNBALANCED GROWTH 423 which was roughly adequate a decade earlier threatens to disrupt seri ously the city's most vital services today. Where t the political process is involved it is but wher easy to blame growing cos ts on ine fficiency and corruption 41 offce,reform adr inistrations seem consistently zled by their inability to wring out the funds they require through theofth A critical element in the explanation becomes clear when we recog how large a proportion of the services provided by the city are gnize ector of the my offer ed to educat hich,as we have limited s 0P r cumulative increases in pro The s e true of police,of hospitals,of social services,and ariety inspection services.Despite the use of the computer in dicine and in traffic planning,despite the use of closed circuit tele. vision and a variety of other devices,there is no substitute for the sonal attention of a physician or the presence of a police natrol in crime-ridden neighborhood.The bulk of municipal se this general stamp and our model tells us clearly s,in fac what n bo expe d as a result.since there is no ason to antici on of capital ac. or inn the progre pate a cessati ve sectors of the economy,the ward trend the n costs municipal services cannot be expected t in orab ly and cumulatively,whether or not there is inflatior administrative mismanagement or malfeasance,municipal budgets will almost certainly continue to mount in the future,just as they have be doing in the past.This is a trend for which no man and no group should be blamed,for there is nothing that can be done to stop it. 6.The Role of Static Externalities Though these may be troubles enough for the municipal administra- are oth compell g forces that plague him simultaneously. are the general class of externality problems which have so e thebale iting in the area a most significant development has been the growing in external costs on urban living.No longer are road smol nuisance only quaint cases serving primaril ook illustrations Rather,they have become -matters discussed heatedly practical in the daily press and d serious attention by P headlines to an engineer's pr dic t the Newspapers devote uman race more likely to succumb to its own pol. than through a nuclear holocaust,and report with glee the quip ethe city in which one is wakened birds coughing. Now there are undoubtedly many reasons for the explosion in external Copyright2001 All Rights Reserved