Demand for municipal services – needs, consumption, and experiences

The research project has examined the demand for municipal services and the factors affecting it, as well as the need for services and user experiences of them. A separate preliminary research report was produced for the project in spring 1994, which has not been published. In connection with the research project, a postal survey was carried out in autumn 1994, and the reporting of its results constitutes the principal content of this publication.

The present research report begins with an overview of research into municipal services — that is, local public goods — from the perspective of public finance theory. In addition, municipalities are examined as market areas for services. At the same time, earlier studies bearing on the research problem are presented to the extent that they are relevant to the research question in hand.

The main body of the research report comprises the reporting of the results of the survey collected in autumn 1994. The data are presented at this stage only in descriptive form, as tabular summaries and figures. The actual empirical demand analyses are left for further research. The report concludes with an outline of the research questions for further study, the aim of which is to model the determination of demand for services and to investigate empirically the equilibrium of supply and demand in the municipal service market. (AI translation)

• ISSN: 1236-7176
• ISBN: 951-9282-89-0