Municipal Income Research Articles

The Situation Analysis of Municipal Borrowing

Growing municipal borrowing is not surprising today because not only municipalities but also the state itself borrows actively. We live in a period when the funds of EU are actively being absorbed, and according to regulations, in order to use these funds, it is necessary, albeit a small part, to add own funds. The borrowing requirement which exists at all levels of government is aggregated, and borrowed funds represent the total public debt. When the need arises, municipalities, like the state, can borrow financial resources, but their borrowing is more regulated than the state.
 The research problem. The annual public resources generated by municipalities represent only a small fraction of public finance flows circulating in state jurisdiction. The financial situation of municipalities is complicated due to the fact that insufficient funds are allocated from the state budget to ensure the performance of state-delegated functions. This article looks at the answers to questions of what are the reasons for municipal borrowing and what are the opportunities of growing borrowing to continue borrowing?
 The object of the research is municipal debt.
 The purpose of the research is to analyze municipal debt and borrowing as a phenomenon and to reveal the borrowing situation of Lithuanian municipalities.
 The statistical data of the Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania and the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities were used for the analysis. For the analysis of the municipal debt situation the budget income and expenditures of all sixty municipalities and municipal net annual borrowing were analyzed.
 Research period is 2005–2014. This choice of the research period allows to partially eliminate the influence of economic cyclicality, because this period covered rapid economic growth after Lithuania’s accession to the European Union, a period of economic recession since 2008, and the last economic recovery period.
 Based on the analysis, municipal borrowing in Lithuania and other countries is strictly regulated with established borrowing limits and borrowing objectives, usually borrowing is in the domestic banking market for a long or short period. The reasons for borrowing are varied, but usually they are aimed at attracting additional investment by contributing to the borrowed funds of the municipality. In most cases, municipalities pay off in the implementation of EU structural funds projects, to which they themselves have to contribute. In 2013–2014, the debt for these projects amounted to about 50% of all municipal debts. Due to EU projects, debt grows in all municipalities. Another reason for borrowing is related to the increasing trend of municipal functions in Lithuania, although self-generated municipal income is decreasing. All this also becomes the reason for borrowing. The total debt of all municipalities in Lithuania, per capita, is increasing every year. During the analyzed period, this debt increased by 4.68 times. However, the municipal debt of Lithuania compared with the debt of municipalities of other EU countries shows that this debt is not high and has a potential for future growth. However, since 2014, the debt of Lithuanian municipalities, albeit insignificant, has been decreasing. Very similar debt is also in Estonia, slightly more in Latvia. The most indebted are the municipalities of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The growing responsibilities of municipalities in Lithuania reflect the development of active regions, which invest heavily in infrastructure, community projects and economics, and therefore EU funds provide funding to municipalities in implementing targeted projects. On the basis of rules in Lithuania, in order to receive EU funds, the municipality must itself contribute with its own funds to the ongoing project. In such cases, the state gives the municipalities the right to increase their obligations. During the analyzed period, in comparison with the Lithuanian metropolitan municipalities, Vilnius city, Klaipeda City, and Kaunas City municipalities borrowed the most. It is considered that the high level of indebtedness of major cities of Lithuania is determined by both the desire to create an attractive and balanced environment for a large flow of people and business entities to live and work as well as implementation of a large and strategic state infrastructure projects. Borrowing is an inevitable macroeconomic process that can spur economic growth. If borrowed funds are diverted to productive investments and the level of debt does not endanger economic stability, municipalities could increase their debts, of course guaranteeing the repayment of debt in a timely manner. The problem arises when borrowed funds are used only for consumption or short-term projects, thus these funds do not generate the necessary income in order to timely repay the debt, therefore the situation becomes difficult without the additional state financial support.
 This scientific article is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania according to the project “The evaluation of municipalities’ fiscal competitiveness in the context of economic growth” (2015–2018), registration No. MIP-013/2015.

Revenue and Expenditure Structure of Vyas Municipality

The local governments or the municipalities are responsible to provide administrative services to the local level and to develop infrastructures to provide physical facilities to municipal people. Thus, the major functions of the municipalities are the building up the infrastructure and supra structure and protecting public places and so on. To conduct such philanthropic works it is essential to sustain themselves financially. This study has intense relation with revenue and expenditure of Vyas Municipalities regarding the objectives to analyze, examine and interpret the Revenue and Expenditure. Descriptive research design has been adopted to conduct present study. Under the descriptive research design this study focuses on analyzing income and expenditure pattern of Vyas municipality thus case study approach has been followed to conduct this research. There are 243 municipalities in Nepal which are considered as the population of this study. Among them Vyas municipality is taken as sample using convenience sampling method. This study focuses on municipal revenue and expenditure thus based on secondary data. Vyas municipality largely depends upon the revenue raised from external sources to fulfill the financial requirements. The total revenue has been occupied by internal revenue and external revenue. The average growth rate of internal revenue has been greater than external revenue during the study period. Vyas municipality itself has been suffering from financial inadequacy. So unnecessary expenditure made for the consumption purpose should be cut off. Expenditure made for unproductive sectors should be minimized and utilized effectively. The Journal of Nepalese Business Studies Vol. X No. 1 December 2017, Page: 42-55

Firm Creation and the Ease and Cost of Doing Business

Existing literature has studied the effects of business environment on business creation, private sector growth, and economic development. Using data from Philippine cities and municipalities from 2011 to 2015, this paper tested for the relationship between business creation and the ease and cost of doing business. The results provide evidence that the overall ease and cost of doing business is indeed associated with business creation, but the relationship becomes more apparent with disaggregation. In particular, lower cost of doing business is found to be a much stronger predictor of business creation than ease of doing business. The specific indicators that drive this relationship are minimum wage, price of electricity, price of water, and price of land from the ‘cost’ dimension, and number of days it takes to process a new business permit from the ‘ease’ dimension. This has implications on policy-making, especially in designing programs that target firm creation. The relationship between business creation and the ease and cost of doing business also changes across city and municipal income levels. Among the poorest municipalities, ease and cost of doing business loses its importance as a determinant of business creation; governance indicators become more important.

What Underlies the Observed Hospital Volume-Outcome Relationship?

Studies of the hospital volume-outcome relationship have highlighted that a greater volume activity improves patient outcomes. While this finding has been known for years in health services research, most studies to date have failed to delve into what underlies this relationship. This study aimed to shed light on the basis of the hospital volume effect by comparing treatment modalities for epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients. Hospital volume activity was instrumented by the distance from patients’ homes to their hospital, the population density, and the median net income of patient municipalities. We found that higher volume hospitals appear to more often make the right decisions in regard to how to treat patients, which contributes to the positive impact of hospital volume activities on patient outcomes. Based on our parameter estimates, we found that the rate of complete tumor resection would increase by 10% with centralized care, and by 6% if treatment decisions were coordinated by high volume centers compared to the ongoing organization of care. In both scenarios, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy would increase by 10%. As volume alone is an imperfect correlate of quality, policy makers need to know what volume is a proxy for in order to devise volume-based policies.

Fjöldi ferðamanna og tekjur og kostnaður íslenskra sveitarfélaga

Presently, discussions are taking place in Iceland on the development and maintenance of tourist sites and various services needed in order for tourism to develop in line with the great increase in the number of foreign tourists. Municipalities are one of the interested parties and they are responsible for many services: sewage, maintenance of parks and streets, to name a few. There are doubts that municipal income increases according to the increase in tourists, because it is most likely this will take place through municipal income tax, but much of the work related to tourism is carried out by migrant workers. This research attempts to assess if municipal income changes with increased number of tourists. It will also be attempted to estimate if costs of municipalities increase with increased number of tourists, and also which types of costs. Available data on financial affairs of municipalities from the Association of municipalities, real estate prices from the National registry and statistics on number of tourists, from diverse sources, are used to assess changes in costs and incomes and if this will have the impacts described above. Quantitative methods are applied in the analysis. Regression analysis for panel data (fixed and random effect models) was applied along with descriptive analysis.

What Underlies The Observed Hospital Volume-Outcome Relationship?

Studies of the hospital volume-outcome relationship have highlighted that a greater volume activity improves patient outcomes. While this finding has been known for years in health services research, most studies to date have failed to delve into what underlies this relationship. This study aimed to shed light on the basis of the hospital volume effect by comparing treatment modalities for epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients. Hospital volume activity was instrumented by the distance from patients' homes to their hospital, the population density, and the median net income of patient municipalities. We found that higher volume hospitals appear to more often make the right decisions in regard to how to treat patients, which contributes to the positive impact of hospital volume activities on patient outcomes. Based on our parameter estimates, we found that the rate of complete tumor resection would increase by 10% with centralized care, and by 6% if treatment decisions were coordinated by high volume centers compared to the ongoing organization of care. In both scenarios, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy would increase by 10%. As volume alone is an imperfect correlate of quality, policy makers need to know what volume is a proxy for in order to devise volume-based policies.

Data science for assessing possible tax income manipulation: The case of Italy

This paper explores a real-world fundamental theme under a data science perspective. It specifically discusses whether fraud or manipulation can be observed in and from municipality income tax size distributions, through their aggregation from citizen fiscal reports. The study case pertains to official data obtained from the Italian Ministry of Economics and Finance over the period 2007–2011. All Italian (20) regions are considered. The considered data science approach concretizes in the adoption of the Benford first digit law as quantitative tool. Marked disparities are found, - for several regions, leading to unexpected “conclusions”. The most eye browsing regions are not the expected ones according to classical imagination about Italy financial shadow matters.

Belanja Modal Memediasi Pengaruh Pendapatan Daerah Terhadap Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Daerah Otonomi Khusus

ABSTRACT
 The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of regional income on the economic growth of special autonomous regions mediated by capital expenditure. The sample of this study is the realization of regional income and expenditure budget of districts and municipalities in the special autonomous region of Papua province for the year of 2011-2015. By using purposive sampling technique, this study obtained 120 data observation report. The test is done by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The test results indicate that the amount of regional revenue has a positive effect on economic growth, besides the regional revenue also has a positive effect on capital expenditure, then the addition of allocation amount on capital expenditure has a positive effect on economic growth. Capital expenditure is able to partially mediate the regional income on economic growth in the form of partial or partial mediation.
 Keywords: Capital expenditure, regional income, economic growth

MODELLING THE EDUCATIONAL ADDED VALUE OF MATHEMATICS IN RELATION TO THE DEGREE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED MUNICIPALITIES IN POLAND

This article describes factors affecting the modelling of educational added value (EAV). The study takes into account the results of mathematics and their fluctuations in relation to the degree of social development. Mathematics has been selected for thi s analysis based on the literature review. As a field of science, mathematics is characterized by greater objectivity, thus allowing for less suggestive analysis of results. The indicator of the EAV of mathematics is confronted with independent data. This article contains a detailed analysis of the impact of these variables on EAV. In addition, these variables are grouped into separate classes by the level of social development. The explanatory variables include municipal income per capita, housing allowances, the number of dwellings per 1000 inhabitants, square footage, the number of children in kindergartens per one place and registered unemployment. The obtained results of the model estimation are not clear about the directions of impact on EAV in particu lar classes of social development. In view of mathematics can be determined by the level of social development.

Condicionantes da Arrecadação Tributária: Uma análise para os Municípios de Minas Gerais

Objetivando conhecer quais características municipais influenciam na arrecadação tributária própria dos municípios mineiros, o referencial bibliográfico desse artigo versa sobre o federalismo e a descentralização, indicando variáveis apontadas na literatura como condicionantes da arrecadação tributária municipal. A arrecadação própria depende principalmente das bases tributáveis no município e das alíquotas que incidem sobre essas bases. Assim, a renda do município, bem como o peso das atividades urbanas e o grau de formalização da atividade econômica, determinam o tamanho dessa base tributária e consequentemente, o montante de recursos arrecadados. Para analisar as características municipais, foram levantados dados secundários relativos à capacidade fiscal dos municípios de Minas Gerais para o ano de 2010, tendo em vista a disponibilidade de dados para este ano. Foi utilizada a Análise Fatorial para agrupar as variáveis, e a Regressão Quantílica (RQ) para verificar o efeito desses nos diferentes estágios de Arrecadação Própria Municipal (APM). Foram obtidos três fatores: “Aspectos Econômicos”; “Aspectos Estruturais” e “Aspectos Financeiros”, os quais agruparam as variáveis de acordo com a correlação apresentada entre elas. Com a RQ pôde-se perceber que esses fatores afetam de forma diferente os quantis de APM (q.10; q.25; q.50; q.75 e q.90), sendo que os maiores coeficientes são atribuídos a maiores níveis de arrecadação, demonstrando que esses fatores são mais influentes em municípios de arrecadação própria mais alta. Conhecer os condicionantes da arrecadação própria dos municípios permite à gestão pública implementar ações que evitem a ineficiência arrecadatória, fomentando as principais atividades econômicas que compõem a sua base de tributação.

Institutions vs. Social Interactions in Driving Economic Convergence: Evidence from Colombia

Are regions poor because they have bad institutions or are they poor because they are disconnected from the social channels through which technology diffuses? This paper tests institutional and technological theories of economic convergence by looking at income convergence across Colombian municipalities. We use formal employment and wage data to estimate growth of income per capita at the municipal level. In Colombia, municipalities are organized into 32 departamentos or states. We use cellphone metadata to cluster municipalities into 32 communication clusters, defined as a set of municipalities that are densely connected through phone calls. We show that these two forms of grouping municipalities are very different. We study the effect on municipal income growth of the characteristics of both the state and the communication cluster to which the municipality belongs. We find that belonging to a richer communication cluster accelerates convergence, while belonging to a richer state does not. This result is robust to controlling for state fixed effects when studying the impact of communication clusters and vice versa. The results point to the importance of social interactions rather than formal institutions in the growth process.

General subsidy as source of income for rural municipalities in Poland

Research into the differences between income-generating capacities of rural municipalities and the effectiveness of vertical and horizontal transfers in levelling these differences reflects the financial situation of municipalities and their ability to meet the needs of local communities. The conclusions of this study can be used in the implementation of the government's financial policy. The aim of this article is to analyse and assess the effectiveness of the general subsidy for rural municipalities in Poland. The income-generating capacities of municipalities are expressed in the amount of tax revenue per capita, and its primary and secondary diversity is measured by the coefficient of variation weighted by the number of inhabitants. The study found very significant discrepancies among income-generating capacities of rural municipalities in Poland. The effectiveness of the fiscal equalization mechanism is moderately high, as individual transfers vary with respect to their "equalising power".

Opodatkowanie podatkiem od nieruchomości elektrowni wiatrowych. Niektóre aspekty podatkowe i ekonomiczne dla gmin

After 1st January 2017, wind power stations are constructions composed of at least a foundation, tower, and technical elements, which shall be subject to property tax, and their tax basis is their value as referred to in property tax provisions. Provisions of Art. 2 point 1 and 2 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations are provisions of law which further specify in detail the definition of construction from Art. 3 point 3 of the Construction Law Act, and, in addition, are provisions of construction law because, as being provisions of an act regarding taxes, they may constitute the basis to establish a tax law relationship, and in this case the subject of the case and a tax basis. The fact that Art. 17 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations regarding the time limit for establishing and collecting property tax in accordance with the provisions applicable before the entry into force of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations was added as a correction in the course of parliamentary works does not breach Art. 118 par. 1 and 2 and Art. 119 par. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the provision in question is strictly related to the matter contained in the said act. The fact that new rules (subject and basis) for taxation of wind power stations do not include, from 1st January 2017, sea wind power stations is not discrimination against land wind power stations and does not breach the rules contained in Art. 32 par. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the conditions of construction works, costs of construction works and operational time of sea and land wind power stations are justified by their varying circumstances in the aspect of tax law provisions. In order to counter the effects of increased tax liabilities on account of property tax, and, consequently, likelihood of bankruptcy of such tax-payers and the resulting decrease of municipality income, decision-making bodies of municipalities should use available legal mechanisms in this scope, in particular the possibility to introduce, also in the course of a pending tax year, a definition of the subject of taxation and tax rates. This condition is not met by individual interpretations of the provisions of tax law, because they may be changed ex officio by the Head of National Tax Authorities.

Opodatkowanie podatkiem od nieruchomości elektrowni wiatrowych. Niektóre aspekty podatkowe i ekonomiczne dla gmin

After 1st January 2017, wind power stations are constructions composed of at least a foundation, tower, and technical elements, which shall be subject to property tax, and their tax basis is their value as referred to in property tax provisions. Provisions of Art. 2 point 1 and 2 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations are provisions of law which further specify in detail the definition of construction from Art. 3 point 3 of the Construction Law Act, and, in addition, are provisions of construction law because, as being provisions of an act regarding taxes, they may constitute the basis to establish a tax law relationship, and in this case the subject of the case and a tax basis. The fact that Art. 17 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations regarding the time limit for establishing and collecting property tax in accordance with the provisions applicable before the entry into force of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations was added as a correction in the course of parliamentary works does not breach Art. 118 par. 1 and 2 and Art. 119 par. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the provision in question is strictly related to the matter contained in the said act. The fact that new rules (subject and basis) for taxation of wind power stations do not include, from 1st January 2017, sea wind power stations is not discrimination against land wind power stations and does not breach the rules contained in Art. 32 par. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the conditions of construction works, costs of construction works and operational time of sea and land wind power stations are justified by their varying circumstances in the aspect of tax law provisions. In order to counter the effects of increased tax liabilities on account of property tax, and, consequently, likelihood of bankruptcy of such tax-payers and the resulting decrease of municipality income, decision-making bodies of municipalities should use available legal mechanisms in this scope, in particular the possibility to introduce, also in the course of a pending tax year, a definition of the subject of taxation and tax rates. This condition is not met by individual interpretations of the provisions of tax law, because they may be changed ex officio by the Head of National Tax Authorities.

Opodatkowanie podatkiem od nieruchomości elektrowni wiatrowych. Niektóre aspekty podatkowe i ekonomiczne dla gmin

Abstract: After 1st January 2017, wind power stations are constructions composed of at least a foundation, tower, and technical elements, which shall be subject to property tax, and their tax basis is their value as referred to in property tax provisions. Provisions of Art. 2 point 1 and 2 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations are provisions of law which further specify in detail the definition of construction from Art. 3 point 3 of the Construction Law Act, and, in addition, are provisions of construction law because, as being provisions of an act regarding taxes, they may constitute the basis to establish a tax law relationship, and in this case the subject of the case and a tax basis. The fact that Art. 17 of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations regarding the time limit for establishing and collecting property tax in accordance with the provisions applicable before the entry into force of the Act on investment in the scope of wind power stations was added as a correction in the course of parliamentary works does not breach Art. 118 par. 1 and 2 and Art. 119 par. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the provision in question is strictly related to the matter contained in the said act. The fact that new rules (subject and basis) for taxation of wind power stations do not include, from 1st January 2017, sea wind power stations is not discrimination against land wind power stations and does not breach the rules contained in Art. 32 par. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, because the conditions of construction works, costs of construction works and operational time of sea and land wind power stations are justified by their varying circumstances in the aspect of tax law provisions. In order to counter the effects of increased tax liabilities on account of property tax, and, consequently, likelihood of bankruptcy of such tax-payers and the resulting decrease of municipality income, decision-making bodies of municipalities should use available legal mechanisms in this scope, in particular the possibility to introduce, also in the course of a pending tax year, a definition of the subject of taxation and tax rates. This condition is not met by individual interpretations of the provisions of tax law, because they may be changed ex officio by the Head of National Tax Authorities.

Do they make a difference? Professional team sports clubs’ effects on migration and local growth: Evidence from Denmark

It is a common argument in Denmark that municipal involvement in professional team sports can be justified on the grounds of local impact. The use of public funds to directly or indirectly subsidise local professional team sports clubs (PTSCs) is often seen as warranted due to the PTSCs’ positive effects on local economic growth or (inbound) municipal migration. However, can PTSCs be associated with tangible effects at all? This question has never been answered properly in a European context. Based on data covering the 2008–2013 period, and using spatial panel regression models, this article examines this issue in relation to three dominant professional sports in Denmark: football (soccer), handball and ice hockey. The study finds effects for only one of the sports examined, with Danish handball clubs exercising a marginal effect on average income. Ice hockey’s effect is negative and football remains insignificant in all models deployed. Concerning migration, negative effects are found in relation to female handball clubs. These findings are consistent with previous research and have implications for local sport policies and managers. Municipal politicians, public authorities or sport managers should no longer rationalise the use of public funds for local PTSCs on the assumption of (tangible) economic effects or population growth, as it appears to be an inefficient use of public money. If policy makers want to increase municipal income or inbound migration, they should engage themselves in developing more appropriate strategies.

The Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program, the infrastructure of Primary Health Units and the Municipal Human Development Index.

The main objective of this article was to examine the context in which professionals working within the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program operate. This study used the infrastructure scale of primary health units (PHUs), which was recently developed by Soares Neto and colleagues to provide more information regarding the relationship between the infrastructure of PHUs and the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) of municipalities that received Mais Médicos Program doctors. Using exploratory and inferential statistics, the article shows that 65.2% of the PHUs that received Mais Médicos Program doctors had medium-quality infrastructure and only 5.8% of them had low-quality infrastructure. The correlation of 0.50 between the infrastructure indicator and the MHDI points to a moderate tendency for municipalities with low MHDIs to have more precarious PHUs. Using multiple linear regression analysis it can be inferred that the main factor that contributed to the increase in the infrastructure indicator of the PHUs was the average municipal income. On the other hand, the factor that negatively affected the infrastructure of the PHUs was being located in the north or northeast regions.

Path dependencies and defensive routines in Finnish city-regional land-use policy cooperation: case Ristikytö

ABSTRACTThe article seeks to explain the factors preventing the emergence of a broader city-regional view in land-use policy, in a Finnish urban region fragmented institutionally by several municipalities that have high independence in determining their own land-use policies. The ongoing municipal reform by the Finnish government acknowledges the importance of urban regions in global competitiveness and economic livelihood, and thus it encourages municipalities in urban regions to merge, in order to avoid their counterproductive mutual competition over investments and residents, and related municipal tax income. However, such pressure by the central government has often resulted in evasive manoeuvres and superficial city-regional rhetoric at the level of local governments, with a hidden motivation of maintaining the status quo of inter-municipal competition. As a theoretical framework to explain this phenomenon, the theoretical insights on path dependence and defensive routines are combined. Regarding empirical material, the article focuses on the case of Ristikytö in the intersection between three municipalities in Central Uusimaa, 35 km north of Helsinki.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF TAXES AND REAL ESTATE LOCAL FEES IN REVENUE OWN MUNICIPALITY JEZIORANY AND DOBRE MIASTO

Revenues from local taxes and fees on real estates are one of the basic components of revenue-own source in the budgets of municipalities in Poland. Their amounts have a very large impact on the municipal budget. This study characterized the notion of the community and principle functions, and described the concept of the budget and its components. Also, the aim of the study, spatial and substantial aspects, time and development, and presentation of research results are described. The areas of the research are characterized and the results are presented in the table. The total income compared with municipalities own revenues, as well as the share of own revenues in total income, the structure of total income and the share of revenues from property tax revenue of their own are presented. The research has shown that municipalities own revenues are a very important source of funding. The share of own revenues in total income in the municipality of Dobre Miasto ranged from 40-50%, while it represented 27-33% in the municipality of Jeziorany. Furthermore, the share of income from real estate taxes on their income in the municipality of Dobre Miasto and Jeziorany ranged from 27-29% and 17-22%, respectively. Revenues from property tax are an important resource of the municipal income.

RURALIDADE E POBREZA NOS MUNICÍPIOS GAÚCHOS: UM OLHAR ATRAVÉS DA TEORIA DAS CAPACITAÇÕES

O Rio Grande do Sul ainda está entre os estados brasileiros que apresentam bons indicadores em relação a estudos de qualidade de vida, desenvolvidos por diversos institutos. Entretanto, é possível verificar, ainda, a existência de situações de carência em relação ao atendimento de algumas necessidades que acabam, por fim, caracterizando situações de pobreza no estado gaúcho. Sendo um estado bastante associado à atividade agrícola, que se desenvolve em ambientes predominantemente rurais, está em evidência uma discussão em relação às características da pobreza rural. Baseado em uma concepção conhecida como Abordagem das Capacitações, desenvolvida por Amartya Sen, o objetivo deste trabalho é identificar aspectos sócio-estruturais capazes de configurar as situações de carência, buscando a caracterização da pobreza rural gaúcha. No trabalho, as situações que envolvem as carências estão associadas às possibilidades de acesso a oportunidades municipais (intitulamentos). Apresenta-se aqui uma sugestão analítica que procurou não estar limitada à situação de renda ou ao tipo de atividade produtiva. Nesse sentido, os municípios foram caracterizados em relação à ruralidade (associada a aspectos de paisagem e produtivos) e às situações de pobreza (associadas à renda municipal per capita e à variação da disponibilidade de acesso relacionada a serviços de educação e saúde).