Demand Side Factors of Local Public Services in Estonia

The goal of this paper is to quantitatively assess the relationships between the service structure and size and age structure of the population, as well as the income levels and employment structure of Estonian municipalities. The article consists of three parts. The first part deals with the relationships between the demand for local public services and the main parameters that characterize the population of a municipality based on existing theoretical and empirical studies. The second part outlines the relationship between the models of optimal public service delivery areas and population structure and income levels. In the third part an empirical analysis is carried out to assess the relationship between the structure of Estonian municipal expenditures (by service type) and population size and age structure, as well as work related income (salary) level and employment structure

The necessity of an administrative-territorial reform in a country: the case of Estonia. Administratiiv-territoriaalse reformi vajadus riigis: Eesti juhtum

The goal of this paper is to analyze the theoretical, political and organizational bases of the territorial division of the country into municipalities as well as empirical data of Estonian municipalities and offer a research direction for identifying conceptual solutions to the development problems in Estonian municipalities. The analysis of the theoretical approaches to municipal size pointed out that they are fragmented and incompatible. Some authors support small municipalities, and others large. The theoretical reasoning of both those directions is often strongly simplified and biased and a unified metatheoretical approach has not been established. The empirical analysis revealed that there is no empirical evidence to confirm either the presence of significant size related advantages among municipalities or the existence of an optimal municipal size considering current municipal functions and financing. The lack of theoretical and empirical evidence on the necessity for administrativeterritorial reform means that merging municipalities alone cannot significantly improve the public service delivery capacities and economic and democratic development of Estonian municipalities and that future studies should focus on analyzing public services from the perspective of their economic efficiency, quality and accessibility, and in doing so, determine the optimal size of regions for providing the various public services

THE NECESSITY OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL REFORM IN A COUNTRY: THE CASE OF ESTONIA

The goal of this paper is to analyze the theoretical, political and organizational bases of the territorial division of the country into municipalities and offer a research direction for identifying conceptual solutions to the development problems in Estonian municipalities. The paper focuses on the territorial organization of administrative issues, looking at the remaining administrative aspects only insofar as they relate to the territorial organization of public administration and services. In order to accomplish the goal we tackle the following research tasks: systematize theories concerning the territorial division of the country into municipalities and analyze the possibilities and limitations for their application; discuss administrative-territorial reforms in Nordic countries, their causes and consequences; describe the development, nature and indicators of the administrative-territorial division of Estonia; empirically analyze the relationship between municipal size and capability and development indicators. The analysis of the theoretical approaches to municipal size pointed out that they are fragmented and incompatible. Some authors support small municipalities, and others large. The theoretical reasoning of both those directions is often strongly simplified and biased and a unified meta-theoretical approach has not been established. The empirical analysis revealed that there is no empirical evidence to confirm either the presence of significant size related advantages among municipalities or the existence of an optimal municipal size considering current municipal functions and financing. The lack of theoretical and empirical evidence on the necessity for administrative-territorial reform means that merging municipalities alone cannot significantly improve the public service delivery capacities and economic and democratic development of Estonian municipalities. This means that future studies should focus on analyzing public services from the perspective of their economic efficiency, quality and accessibility, and in doing so, determine the optimal size of regions for providing the various public services.optimal size of municipalities, local governments’ financial potential, local political development, amalgamation, local government reform, local government efficiency