CRIES problems grave FOR problems REFORM occurring tells AND in us American CHANGE that reform ARE urban is FREQUENTLY needed, areas. it While does HEARD the not CON existence tell CERNIN us what of G problems occurring in American urban areas. While the existence of grave problems t lls us that reform is eed d, it does ot tell us what kind of reform will lead to amelioration of problems. Reforms can make things worse as well as making them better.2 One purpose of this essay is to attempt to isolate the theoretical structure implicit in the traditional metropolitan reform movement so that empirical research can be organized to examine the warrantability of the propositions contained therein. A second purpose of the essay is to pose an alternative theoretical structure derived from the work of political economists. The elucidation of alternative theoretical structures may help guide future research efforts toward ascertaining which of these theoretical structures ( or possibly others ) provides a better explanation for the relationship among variables such as the size of governmental units and their multiplicity in a metropolitan area, and variables such as output, efficiency, equal distribution of costs, responsibility of public officials, and citizen participation. With a warrantable explanation for changes in these variables, reforms can be devised which will produce desired, rather than undesired, outcomes.3 In addition to the above, this essay will also (1) discuss the need for developing agreed-upon definitions of terms and their operationalizations, and (2) present findings from a few studies which challenge the empirical warrantability of some of the propositions elucidated in the first section.
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