The inquiry into the economic life of Croatian municipalities

The aim of this paper is to analyze the main determinants of the economic life in Croatian municipalities. For that purpose, we collected data related to the municipal budgets and business results of entrepreneurs registered in 427 municipalities during 2007-2011 period. In order to determine and study the variations in municipal economic outcomes related to the size of municipalities, their administrative status (municipalities belonging to the areas of state national concern, hill and mountain areas, and island areas), their geographic location and dominant political party in the municipality, we apply multivariate statistics methods (Levene’s test of variance homogeneity, ANOVA, and Sheffe post-hoc test). The results suggest that size of the municipalities explains the variation related to municipal fiscal capacity and average net earnings of inhabitants living in municipalities. The political affiliation of a mayor is related to the differences in the relative amount of aid granted from the central government budget, fiscal capacity and indebtness, while the differences in administrative status of municipalities account for discrepancies observed in employment, average net earnings, indebtedness, central government aid, and expenditures for social protection. The basic conclusion of research is that Croatian municipalities differ significantly in the majority of the analyzed economic determinants and that current administrative status should be subject to the general local government reform, not only in special status and number of local units but also in fiscal equalization process.