The Impact of Amalgamations on Services in Icelandic Municipalities
This article deals with answering the question whether municipal amalgamations can meet the wishes at the root of the most common motives behind them: to gain cost-efficiency and more quality in the municipal services. The analysis is partly based on a survey among Icelandic local leaders in 2015 and partly on survey among citizens in 8 recently amalgamated municipalities collected with a snowball method through Facebook in the spring and summer 2013. The main results are that the impact of amalgamations on municipal services seems to depend on whether we look at the central or peripheral parts of the municipality. Both leaders and citizens seem to perceive developments of services differently depending on the position in the municipality. In the peripheries, they have significantly more negative view than in the service centres. This has to do with both their evaluation of specific services and their general evaluation of service development. However, in the general evaluation the difference is significantly larger.
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