Tag: local government

ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY AND INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN IN NATIONAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING: AN EX-ANTE EVALUATION OF THE “ANTONIS TRITSIS” PROGRAM IN GREECE

Evangelos MAKRYVELIOS

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 105 59, Greece

vmakrivelios@ba.uoa.gr

(Corresponding AUTHOR)

Theodore PAPADOGONAS

Professor, Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 105 59, Greece

thpap@ba.uoa.gr

Abstract

This paper discusses the design, administrative sufficiency, and perceived efficiency of the Antonis Tritsis special development program to support the local government in Greece. The analysis will take an ex-ante evaluation which will look at the capacity of an administration, the institution design and the conditions of implementation of programs directly than the actual economic outcomes. The empirical research is founded on theoretical questionnaire and structured interviews with top managers, who are personally engaged in the program designing, financing, and monitoring, and is supported with S.W.O.T. analysis. The goal is to embed the perceptions of the strategic appropriateness, institutional functionality as well as implementation constraints with an focus on the inequality in administrative capacity between the municipalities and institutional complexity. The results indicate that the program can be viewed as strategically significant and financially innovative especially because the entire funding of the project financial sources was in place. At the same time, limitations related to the uneven administrative capacity of local authorities, institutional complexity, and the need to strengthen technical support, especially for small and island municipalities, are highlighted. The study contributes to the literature on local governance by offering evidence-based policy guidance for the design of more effective and equitable funding programs.

Keywords: E-ante evaluation, administrative capacity, public investments, local government, Greece

JEL classification: H70, H72, R10, R50, R58, D73

pp. 13-36

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TOOLS AND TESTING OF THE ASSESSMENT OF BUDGET CAPACITY OF THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL (CASE STUDY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION)

Mariya PECHENSKAYA-POLISHCHUK

PhD in Economics, Head of the Laboratory for Public Finance Development Issues Research, Leading Researcher, Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 49, Gogolya Street, Vologda, 160014, Russia

marileen@bk.ru

Abstract

Purpose. To detail the system of indicators and, on their basis, develop an integral index for assessing municipalities’ budget capacity level, which makes it possible to substantiate the choice of a model of financial support for the functioning of local budgets.

Design , methodology , approach. The information base includes works of leading Russian and foreign scientists on the issues under study, reports issued by the Federal Treasury of Russia and the Federal Tax Service of Russia, statistical data from the Federal State Statistics Service and the International Monetary Fund. The research is of complex nature, as it involves a set of fundamental general scientific and special methods, in particular, dialectical and logical methods, horizontal and vertical analysis of financial ratios, statistical and cluster analysis, etc.

Findings. The article presents a system of groups, indicators and author’s method for a comprehensive multidimensional assessment of the municipalities’ budget capacity level. On its basis it is possible to choose an optimal financial support model to support local budget functioning, worked out for municipal districts. The results of integral assessment of the data on the Vologda Oblast taken as a model region, indicate that budget capacity of most municipalities in 2006-2018 was at the average and below average level. Thus, the region misses certain opportunities for development of its budget capacity. At the same time, the conducted calculations show the prevalence of the fourth-type model of financial support for the settlement network, i.e. a differentiated approach depending on the indicator of budgetary provision of settlements.

Research , practical implications. The results obtained contribute to the development of theoretical science and form the foundation for applied use by state authorities and local governments in the implementation of methodological approaches, assessment methods, methodological tools for substantiating budget policy decisions, and can also be used in the scientific activity and educational process.

Originality , value. The scientific value of the research lies in the development of methodological tools for assessing the level of municipalities’ budget capacity when determining the model for financing settlements.

Keywords: Russian Federation, region, budget capacity, municipalities, local government, local budget, assessment

JEL classification: H77, G18, H61

 pp. 43-52

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