Preliminary communication
The inquiry into the economic life of Croatian municipalities
Ivana Rašić Bakarić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5157-9134
; Institute of Economics Zagreb,Zagreb, Croatia
Hrvoje Šimović
orcid.org/0000-0002-4040-0899
; Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Maruška Vizek
; Institute of Economics Zagreb,Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze the main determinants of the economic life in
Croatian municipalities. For that purpose, we collected data related to the municipal
budgets and business results of entrepreneurs registered in 427 municipalities during
2007-2011 period. In order to determine and study the variations in municipal
economic outcomes related to the size of municipalities, their administrative status
(municipalities belonging to the areas of state national concern, hill and mountain
areas, and island areas), their geographic location and dominant political party in
the municipality, we apply multivariate statistics methods (Levene’s test of variance
homogeneity, ANOVA, and Sheffe post-hoc test). The results suggest that size of the
municipalities explains the variation related to municipal fiscal capacity and average
net earnings of inhabitants living in municipalities. The political affiliation of a
mayor is related to the differences in the relative amount of aid granted from the
central government budget, fiscal capacity and indebtness, while the differences in
administrative status of municipalities account for discrepancies observed in
employment, average net earnings, indebtedness, central government aid, and
expenditures for social protection. The basic conclusion of research is that Croatian
municipalities differ significantly in the majority of the analyzed economic
determinants and that current administrative status should be subject to the general
local government reform, not only in special status and number of local units but
also in fiscal equalization process.
Keywords
Municipalities; local government; variance analysis; entrepreneurship
Hrčak ID:
131536
URI
Publication date:
22.12.2014.
Visits: 2.306 *