The Cost of Good Intentions

The Fall of the Big Apple: A Cautionary Tale of New York’s Fiscal Crisis

This book explores the tumultuous era of public policy making in New York, from Mayor Robert Wagner’s third term in 1960 through the administrations of John V. Lindsay, Abraham Beame, and Edward Koch. It chronicles the rise and fall of the great liberal experiment, culminating in the inevitable return of fiscal conservatism.

As New York City’s extravagant budget practices unraveled, the reverberations w…