Is There a Link between User Charges and Expenditures on Public Kindergartens in Poland?
Is There a Link between User Charges and Expenditures on Public Kindergartens in Poland?

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to assess the link between user charges and expenditures on the service on the example of public kindergartens in Poland. The rationale behind the paper is that implementation of user charges for public service results in effiient use of resources and leads to the passing-on of expenditure increase to consumers. To achieve the aim, three methods were used, namely weighed-least-squares, fixed effect and random effect method. The empirical analysis based on a panel data set for 65 large Polish cities in the years 2012–2018 showed that about 10–25% of an expenditure increase is passed on to consumers in terms of higher user charge. Moreover, user charge financing has a significant negative effect on the unit cost. An increase in the share of user charges in expenditures by 10 pp causes a decrease in expenditure at the level of 2.5–5.0%.

• Details
• Contents