Do cutbacks pay off? Perceived changes in the standard of municipal services and attitudes towards services among citizens and municipal decision makers in Finland
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12608996 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helena Blomberg (0000-0002-6227-4408, University of Helsinki, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 206-220 |
| Publication date | 1999-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Social Welfare (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-6866 • E-ISSN: 1468-2397 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-2397.00084 |
| OpenAlex | W1982697753 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
One common aim in the Nordic countries during the last decade has been to lessen state control over municipal affairs and to increase the local community’s influence over the development of (welfare) services. These reforms happened to coincide with the economic depression of the 1990s, which especially hit Finland and Sweden, and enforced extensive cutbacks that negatively influenced the standard of services in a number of ways. However, according to some indicators the cutbacks also made public services more efficient. This article – utilizing Finnish data from 1995 – focuses on a comparison between how the general public on the one hand and leading municipal politicians and administrators on the other hand perceived the development of services and, further, whether these perceptions influence the groups’ attitudes towards future changes in the system. Results show that decision makers, in contrast to a significant proportion of citizens, have a quite positive view on the development of services as well as on the continuation of cutbacks and a reduction of the municipalities’ responsibilities for service provision. The study also indicates that citizens’ views on the decline of various services are related to negative attitudes towards further decrease or changes in the municipalities’ responsibilities. Among the decision makers, those politicians who think that (particularly efficiency aspects of) services have developed favourably also exhibit the weakest support for the prevailing system. The results raise questions concerning the role of citizens’ attitudes in the development of services in the municipalities
Business · Control (management · Economic growth · Economics · Municipal services · Political science · Public economics · Service (business · Social Welfare · State (computer science · Welfare · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Research in Social Sciences · Marketing
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1999 - 2016 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |