Økonomiske konsekvenser af kommunalreformen

As part of the Danish Structural Reform of 2007, 239 municipalities were amalgamated to 66 municipalities, while 32 municipalities were left untouched. Evaluations based on difference-in-difference designs show that economic steerability has increased in amalgamated municipalities and that economies of scale regarding administration and maintenance of roads have been realised. The savings on administration and roads, however, have been reallocated to other policy areas, and no economies of scale for total expenditures can be identified. For major municipal policy areas such as day care, schools and eldercare – where the producing unit is at plant level rather than at municipal level – no economies of scale are seen. The efficiency of the service provision seems to be unaffected by the amalgamations. No valid conclusions can be drawn regarding cost-effectiveness effects of amalgamations and economies of scope related to an increased task portfolio

Why such a different choice of tools? Analysing recent local government reforms in Denmark and Norway

Local government amalgamation reforms are politically demanding ventures because potential benefits are often diffuse and long term, while costs are concentrated and immediate. We investigate the role of national political actors in forming alliances and choosing policy tools in such demanding reform contexts. Empirically, we compare the Danish amalgamation reform, characterised by the use of authoritative government tools and a nationally directed amalgamation process, and the Norwegian reform, which primarily used softer tools that involved substantial autonomy at the local level. Our analysis is built on a rich set of qualitative data. We show that differences in the pro-reform alliances established by the two national governments help explain the different choices of government tools for carrying out the local government reforms. A strong pro-reform alliance, as was the case in Denmark, lent legitimacy to the use of authoritative tools.publishedVersio

Kommunernes produktivitet: Hvilken betydning har kommunens administrative organisering og de lokale økonomiske grundvilkår?

Budgetinstitutioner og organisering har ifølge budgetlitteraturen stor betydning for offentlige organisationers økonomiske resultater. Men kan en bestemt administrativ organisering være med til at styrke en kommunes produktivitet? Empirisk viser analysen, at både kommunernes økonomiske grundvilkår og administrative organisering har betydning for produktiviteten. Produktiviteten er lavere, jo mindre økonomisk presset kommunen er, jo mindre kommunen er, og/eller hvis kommunen er organiseret med en direktionsmodel uden opdelt administrativt ansvar. En direktionsmodel kan ifølge tidligere undersøgelser styrke tværgående, strategiske og overordnede økonomistyringshensyn i form af budgetbalance og udgiftsstyring. Indeværende analyse peger på, at direktionsmodellens – intenderede – afkobling til de faglige miljøer og medarbejdere omvendt ser ud til at svække hensynet til den kommunale produktivitet. Valget af administrativ organisering ser dermed ud til at indebære et trade-off mellem en stærk udgiftsstyring og en høj produktivitet