The quantitative study of local government expenditure has seen to a great extent British political scientists (as has been so often the case in urban politics) responding to an American lead. What were tested in this country were the Easton-based models of Dawson and Robinson, Dye, Sharkansky, and others, which postulated a very simple (three-variable) system. The three variables were expenditure, socio-economic context and political control, and the question raised was of the relative impact of the last two on the first. While the American studies suggested the primacy of socio-economic context, the British studies appeared to suggest that more importance should be attached to political control. However, this view of the importance of party control is disputed in a number of studies, leaving the question of the relationship of political variables to local expenditures rather a vexed one. The American studies originated with Key’s argument that welfare policies were better provided in those areas of the American South which had competitive party systems.