Municipal budget strategies and local economic growth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10409504 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dave Kiwi (0000-0002-1966-5972, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, corresponding author), Andreas Alexiou (0000-0002-8425-0132, University of Southampton) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Regional Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-3404 • E-ISSN: 1360-0591 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00343404.2025.2600432 |
| OpenAlex | W7124509201 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 97 |
Local governments invest heavily in economic development, yet such spending often fails to produce entrepreneurial dynamism. This study examines how different configurations of municipal spending contribute to new firm formation across 336 Dutch municipalities. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we identify multiple, size-specific combinations of foundational infrastructure and business-climate interventions that are sufficient for higher entrepreneurial activity. The results show that the effectiveness of municipal spending depends on its alignment with local fiscal and institutional capacity, rather than on the presence of any single policy lever. We conceptualise this as a capacity logic of public investment, whereby different capacity regimes enable different causal pathways to entrepreneurship. The findings reframe local development from a search for universally effective instruments to the design of capacity-contingent policy bundles, offering an alternative basis for both theorising and governing subnational economic growth
Cognitive reframing · Fiscal policy · Local economic development · Local government · Public policy · Public spending · Public Policy and Administration Research · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research · Regional Development and Policy
Redesigning Social Inquiry
The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Entrepreneurship and economic development in cities
Strategic assets and organizational rent
A critical review of entrepreneurial ecosystems research
The dynamic resource‐based view
The Effects of Local Government Amalgamation on Public Spending, Taxation, and Service Levels
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy
Regional Innovation Systems, Clusters, and the Knowledge Economy
Institutions and Entrepreneurship Quality
Conditions for innovation in public sector organizations
Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage
The new era leadership for the public sector? Entrepreneurship, effectiveness, and democracy
Strategic cost-shifting in long-term care. Evidence from the Netherlands
Tourism, Local Economic Development and Inclusion
Studying configurations with qualitative comparative analysis
Fast Policy
Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences
Necessity or opportunity? Government size, tax policy, corruption, and implications for entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship, economic development and institutions
The impact of new firm formation on regional development in the Netherlands
How does new business formation affect regional development? Introduction to the special issue
EU regional development policy and territorial capital
Firm relocation decisions in The Netherlands
Transport investment and the promotion of economic growth
The importance of socio-economic and political losses and gains in welfare state reform
A Quasi-Market Framework for Development Competition
Broadband and local growth
Transformative city branding and the evolution of the entrepreneurial city
Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth
Towards an Evolutionary Perspective on Regional Resilience
Entrepreneurship in a Regional Context
Impact of European Cohesion Policy on regional growth
Regional Innovation Systems
Exploring the mechanisms of platform empowered cluster development
The Determinants of Regional Variation in New Firm Formation
New Firm Formation and Regional Development
Network Linkages and Local Embeddedness of Foreign Ventures in China
Cultural Districts, A New Strategy for Regional Development? The South-East Cultural District in Sicily
New Firm Formation and Regional Development in Sweden
Towards an entrepreneurial ecosystem typology for regional economic development
Cluster presence and economic performance
Do Institutions Matter for Regional Development
Formation of Foreign Direct Investment Clustering–A New Path to Local Economic Development? The Case of Qingdao
The Great Unraveling
Past and Future Budget Classics
The Financial Crisis of the Local Authorities in Israel
Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogeneous Growth
Endogenous Technological Change
The role of place branding in local and regional economic development
Elements of Strategic Planning and Management in Municipal Government
Budget Process Reform
Does Performance Budgeting Work? An Examination of the Office of Management and Budget’s Part Scores
Understanding the Adoption and Timing of Economic Development Strategies in US Cities Using Innovation and Institutional Analysis
What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Performance? Dialogue Theory and Performance Budgeting
Form of Government, Administrative Organization, and Local Economic Development Policy
Performance Information, Blame Avoidance, and Politicians' Attitudes to Spending and Reform
Predicting Budgetary Change
The Myth of Mayoral Leadership in Local Government Resource Allocation
Learning from Abroad
Still Lost in Translation! A Correction of Three Misunderstandings Between Configurational Comparativists and Regressional Analysts
The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom
Assessing and explaining the relative efficiency of local government
The role of heritage conservation districts in achieving community economic development goals
Innovation, Innovation Policies, and Regional Development in China
Externalities, Learning and Governance
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |