The Design of Debt Relief Support for Financially Weak, Small Municipalities in Germany: A Comparative Analysis with Special Consideration of Federal Structures.

德国财政薄弱的小城市债务减免支持的设计：特别考虑联邦结构的比较分析。

• 批准号: 507273414
• 负责人: Dr. Andreas Kallert, since 11/2022
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Fachgebiet Geographie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/507273414?language=en
• 关键词: Design; Debt; Relief; Support; Financially

In the course of the global financial and economic crisis, the municipal budget situation in Germany, which had already been characterized by declining tax revenues since the 1990s, deteriorated. Since then, the federal states have been confronted, albeit with varying degrees of intensity, with the problem of over-indebted and thus severely hampered municipalities. In response to this challenge, the states each formulated their own support programs for over-indebted municipalities. The effects of such conditional assistance for over-indebted municipalities are, on the one hand, a declining debt level of the municipalities affected, but, on the other hand, also falling investments and thus an expectable loss of competitiveness. In this regard, the existing literature shows two research gaps: Firstly, the current state of knowledge on conditional debt assistance refers almost exclusively to cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and thus leaves out most municipalities in rural areas. Secondly, previous studies on the effects of support programs focus on the analysis of financial strength and growth indicators and neglect the qualitative dimension of the effects of municipal debt relief support on social welfare and thus on the quality of life of the local population. The motivation of this research project is to add a spatial and qualitative perspective to the existing research on municipal debt support, which is mainly based on political and financial science. Building on the conceptual approaches of austere federalism and austerity management, the proposed project aims to analyse both the local effects of conditional debt support on small municipalities in a federal comparison and the influence on spatial disparities. In a comparative study, all municipalities participating in debt relief programs between 2011 and 2018 in the federal states of Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland will be examined. This is done on the basis of three objectives: First, a qualitative content analysis of the consolidation contracts between the states and municipalities, second, an econometric analysis of the consolidation programs for socio-structural characteristics of the municipalities, and third, based on this, an expert-based field analysis of the effects and strategies in dealing with austerity programs in selected consolidation municipalities. In a broader context, the proposed project aims to contribute to the international scientific debate on spatial disparities and equivalent living conditions. Particularly in view of renewed municipal budget shortfalls in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project also addresses a virulent sociopolitical field of conflict within and beyond the academic discourse.

在全球金融和经济危机期间，自1990年代以来一直以税收下降为特征的德国市政预算状况恶化。自那以后，联邦各州一直面临着过度负债的问题，因此严重阻碍了市政当局的发展，尽管程度不一。为了应对这一挑战，各州都制定了自己的支持计划，以帮助负债累累的市政当局。这种对负债累累的市政当局的有条件援助的影响一方面是受影响的市政当局的债务水平下降，另一方面也是投资下降，从而导致可预见的竞争力丧失。在这方面，现有文献显示有两个研究空白：第一，目前对有条件债务援助的了解几乎完全涉及居民超过50 000人的城市，因此忽略了农村地区的大多数城市。其次，以往关于支持计划影响的研究侧重于财政实力和增长指标的分析，而忽视了市政债务减免支持对社会福利的影响，从而对当地人口生活质量的影响的定性维度。本研究项目的动机是在现有的以政治金融科学为基础的市政债务支持研究基础上增加空间和定性的视角。该拟议项目以紧缩联邦制和紧缩管理的概念方法为基础，旨在通过联邦比较分析有条件债务支助对小城市的地方影响和对空间差异的影响。在一项比较研究中，将对巴伐利亚州、黑森州、北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚州、莱茵兰-帕拉蒂纳州和萨尔兰州在2011年至2018年期间参与债务减免计划的所有市政当局进行审查。这是在三个目标的基础上进行的：第一，对各州和市政当局之间的合并合同进行定性的内容分析；第二，对市政当局的社会结构特征的合并方案进行计量分析；第三，在此基础上，对选定的合并市政当局在处理紧缩方案方面的影响和战略进行实地分析。在更广泛的背景下，拟议的项目旨在促进关于空间差距和同等生活条件的国际科学辩论。特别是考虑到新冠肺炎疫情后市政预算再次出现短缺，该项目还解决了学术话语内外的一个严重的社会政治冲突领域。