The model of municipal education expenditures in Poland. Policy, budget and demography
The model of municipal education expenditures in Poland. Policy, budget and demography

Summary/Abstract: Municipal education expenditures finance the delivery of one of the key public services devolved by central government to lower levels of government. Traditional studies in this field are divided based on whether they consider socio-economic determinants or political factors within the new political economy. The study presented herein was undertaken to explore the role of demo-graphic factors which are frequently ignored in research. Purpose of the article: This study seeks to identify which variables statistically significantly influence the level of education expenditures in municipalities. The empirical investigation is based on a sample of 2478 Polish municipalities and uses the 2016 Central Statistical Office data to analyse the correlations and regressions between municipal education expenditures and selected economic and socio-demographic factors. Methods: The parameters of the power and exponential model are estimated using the Generalised Least Squares Method. Findings & Value added: The results of the statistical analysis have shown a moderate, positive and significant correlation between municipalities’ own revenue per capita and local share of education funding per capita. According to the regression analysis results, the model’s explanatory variables accounted for 61% of the variance in municipal education expenditures per capita. The added value of the study is that it highlights the educational challenges related to the demographic situation in Poland that public authorities will soon have to address.

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