Local public expenditure: Equality, quality and growth

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Örebro Studies in Economics 33 I

ÖREBRO 2016 2016

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emelie värja grew up in Kiruna, Sweden. In 2010 she received a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor degree in statistics at Örebro University. She enrolled as a PhD-student in economics in 2010 at Örebro University. Her main research interests includes local public economics and sports economics.

This dissertation focus on both the efficiency and equity in the provision of public services. It concerns both the growth effect of actions taken by the local government as well as equity concerns across municipalities. To summarize the findings from this disserta-tion. Subsidies to teams in the highest series of soccer and ice hockey cannot be justified on the grounds of economic benefits. The intended equality in quality of services provided according to the LSS Act across locations has not been fully accomplished. User surveys can increase the overall quality of day activity service programs provided under the LSS Act, making the activities more in line with the user’s needs and the policy maker’s intention with the Act. Additionally, the probability of transitions to employment at a regular workplace is higher in municipalities where as a routine a review is made of whether each participant in day activity service programs can be offered an intern-ship or work. Finally, in the allocation of resources it is important for the local government to evaluate every project by its own since overspen-ding on functional spenoverspen-ding areas usually considered as productive can be un-productive, due to the presence of non-linear relationships between the composition of expenditure and growth.

issn 1651-8896 isbn 978-91-7529-163-5