NDLI: Finland: Restructuring local government and services

Please wait, while we are loading the content...

Institutions of Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations. Challenges Ahead.

Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation. Concepts and Policies.

Institutional and Financial Relations across Levels of Government

Reforming Fiscal Federalism and Local Government. Beyond the Zero-Sum Game.

Foreword and Acknowledgements

Executive summary

Reforming fiscal relations: Going beyond the zero-sum game

Australia: The Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations

Austria: The reform of the fiscal equalisation law

Belgium: The Lambermont Agreement

Canada: The equalisation reform

Denmark: The Local Government Reform

Finland: Restructuring local government and services

Italy: Law 42 on fiscal federalism

Portugal: The reform of the Local Finance Law

Spain: Reforming the funding of Autonomous Communities

Switzerland: The new fiscal equalisation and responsability assignment framework

Institutions visited

Finland: Restructuring local government and services

Content Provider	OECD iLibrary
Organization	OECD
Abstract	In 2007, Finland started implementing the act on restructuring local government and services (also known under its acronym PARAS reform), which aims at creating economies of scale by encouraging voluntary municipal mergers and municipal co-operation areas for public service delivery. Given the high degree of municipal autonomy in Finland and the country’s tradition of consensual decision-making, it was not possible to use threats or sanctions to force municipalities into implementing the reform (as was the case in Denmark, where municipalities were given one year to merge voluntarily, and if they did not comply, the central government could impose the merger). Municipalities could therefore choose between merging and joining larger co-operation areas, but financial incentives were used to encourage municipalities to merge. Municipal mergers were already on the agenda before this reform, and in 2002, a substantial increase in merger subsidies was granted to municipalities wishing to merge. This led to a reduction of the number of municipalities from 452 in 2001, to 432 in 2005. The PARAS reform () further reduced the number of municipalities to 348 in 2009, and municipalities have until 2013 to benefit from financial incentives under the current framework.
Page Count	10
Starting Page	83
Ending Page	92
Language	English
Publisher	OECD Publishing
Publisher Date	2012-02-15
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Governance Taxation Urban, Rural and Regional Development
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Chapter

Central Library (ISO-9001:2015 Certified)
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Kharagpur, West Bengal, India | PIN - 721302

See location in the Map
03222 282435
Mail: support@ndl.gov.in

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in