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The present paper explores sources of technical (in)efficiency of
Flemish municipalities in their production of local public goods (in
the year 2000). In assessing inefficiency derivation, we focus on
socio-economic and political characteristics of the municipalities
as potential source. Our main findings indicate that while the
socio-economic make-up of the population (i.c. income, income
inequality, education and unemployment) appears to bear little
relation to local (in)efficiency, the reverse holds for the
municipal financial situation (i.c. grants, historical debt and
fiscal surplus) as well as population size and density. Also,
different types of communities – i.e. agricultural, residential,
industrial, touristic or urbanised – are generally found to achieve
comparable performance levels in providing ‘core’ public services.
While indicative, the limitations of our dataset imply that further
work is vital before definitive conclusions (as well as causal
inferences) can be made. |
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