Vad påverkar kommunernas ekonomiska resultat?

Sammanfattning

Swedish municipalities are important keystones for the Swedish society to function. Themunicipalities have responsibilities for a big part of the public service like education, elderlycare and infrastructure. For these areas of responsibility to be carried out effectively andsustainably, it needs a sound financial management and fiscal stability. The purpose of thisstudy is to examine if there are any statistically significant connections between the financialresult and Swedish municipalities. The study is based on the municipalities central part of theSwedish welfare system and the importance of a long-term sustainable economy. Based onprevious research, the relationship between municipalities economic performance and severalfinancial and demographic factors are analyzedThe study has a quantitative approach and is based on a statistical analysis where eighthypotheses are tested using regression models. The material consists of public municipalstatistics and covers all Swedish municipalities except one, over a four-year period.The results show that only one of the eight hypotheses received statistical support, but four ofthe selected variables shows a statistical relationship to the municipalities economicperformance. In summary, the study shows that the selected variables only explain a lowpercentage of what affects the financial result and that more factors may have a degree of explanation.