Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The data set was created as part of the ESRC funded project Economic Policy and Political Myopia. The aim of the project was to study the degree of political myopia in public policy today and in the past both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective. The data on fiscal outcomes in municipal boroughs in 1868-1888 was collected to investigate the link between spending on urban sanitation and the local voting franchise.

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The dataset contains information about fiscal outcomes (taxation and spending, including all sub-categories) for 75 municipal boroughs in 1868, 1871, 1875, 1886 and 1888. Data is collected from the accounts of the Municipal Corporations (all years), the accounts of the Local Boards (1868 and 1871) and the Urban Sanitary Authorities (1875, 1886 and 1888) as report in the yearly Local Taxation Returns. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

Purposive selection/case studies

Transcription of existing materials

Compilation or synthesis of existing material