Abstract
Studies on the influence of COVID-19 on municipalities are scarce, although it was precisely municipalities that stood in the first line of combat. It is important to estimate the negative budgetary consequences of the crisis for municipalities and to detect potential patterns in the application of their anti-crisis financial instruments. Our study reveals that the initial response of Polish municipalities to the pandemic crisis in this area varied depending on their administrative type, the amount of current income per capita and the population size. However, the correlations between the applied income instruments and expenditures and the above factors were rather weak.
Highlights
Current research on the COVID-19 crisis focuses in particular on the epidemiological and macro-level socio-economic aspects
The problems with the initial responses of municipalities to the COVID-19 crisis are important, because the faster public entities introduce anti-crisis programs, the lower will be the public expenditures that are required to slow down the decrease of economic growth
This study focuses on municipalities, including cities with district rights
Summary
Current research on the COVID-19 crisis focuses in particular on the epidemiological and macro-level socio-economic aspects. The impact of the pandemic on government finances has been widely studied (Cho & Kurpierz, 2020; Hale et al, 2020; Joyce & Suryo Prabowo, 2020). Few studies analyzed the impact of the pandemic on the economy and finances of local governments (Ahrens & Ferry, 2020; OECD, 2020). In Poland, public administration operates on two levels: the state and territorial selfgovernment. The state administrates its territory, establishes legislation, guarantees public security, manages the economy, ensures minimum subsistence for its citizens as well as establishes and finances higher education institutions, theaters and national museums. Local government is organized into three tiers: municipalities (gmina), districts (powiat) and regions (województwo). Municipalities and districts have a local nature, regions are the highest level of local government. The levels of local government are independent of each other and have different sources of financing
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