Endeudamiento, descentralización de servicios y ciclos políticos presupuestarios: el caso de los ayuntamientos catalanes

by Escudero Fernández, Pedro

The main purpose of this research is to highlight some of the repercussions affecting the local public sector of decision-making that is not motivated by economic or social criteria. To do this, the study focuses on the administrative councils of Catalan municipalities and their entities, along with the municipal owned firms and decentralized organizations that have been created to administrate the provision of public services. This research integrates three empirical studies. The first analyses the factors that determine the level of debt and its structure, paying special attention on the effects of the legislative restrictions. The second study is developed from the Economic Political Cycle Theories. It focuses on budgetary aspects and analyses the role that indebtedness plays within these. Finally, the third study adopts the same theoretical base, but in this case the analysis stresses the role of decentralization of services on the development of these theories. It is worth mentioning that the empirical section of the thesis was developed with data consolidated between administrative councils and decentralized entities.