Traditionally, empirical assessment of local government financial autonomy has concentrated on the different income sources available to local governments. In this article we extend such evaluation to the expenditure autonomy side and combine these two dimensions of autonomy into a comprehensive evaluation of local government financial autonomy. The operationalization of financial autonomy offers a basis for an evaluation of the consistency of central government policy towards local governments. Our approach is then used for a comparison of two countries — Finland and Poland. Points for practitioners Key implications in our approach are the systematic evaluation of both income and expenditure autonomy of local governments, and combining these two dimensions of autonomy into a comprehensive evaluation of local government financial autonomy. The measurement of financial autonomy which is developed can be used as a management tool in central government policy towards local governments.

Résumé Les analyses empiriques de l’autonomie financière des gouvernements locaux se concentrent généralement sur les différentes sources de revenus dont ceux-ci disposent. Dans le présent article, nous étendons cette analyse à l’aspect lié à autonomie dans les dépenses et combinons ces deux dimensions de l’autonomie dans une évaluation exhaustive de l’autonomie financière des gouvernements locaux. La mise en œuvre de l’autonomie financière est un moyen d’évaluer la cohérence de la politique du gouvernement central à l’égard des gouvernements locaux. Nous utiliserons ensuite notre approche dans le cadre d’une comparaison entre deux pays – la Finlande et la Pologne. Remarques à l’intention des praticiens Les principales implications de notre approche concernent l’évaluation systématique de l’autonomie des gouvernements locaux sur le plan de leurs recettes et de leurs dépenses et la combinaison de ces deux dimensions de l’autonomie dans une analyse exhaustive de l’autonomie financière des gouvernements locaux. La mesure développée de l’autonomie financière peut servir d’outil de gestion dans la politique du gouvernement central à l’égard des gouvernements locaux.

The discussion presented in this paper originates from the identification of three development potentials of cities: innovation-based, culture-based and education-based. The paper tackles the problem of determining the importance of primary, secondary and higher education for the development of cities. The main objective of the paper is to create a method for the measurement of education-based potential for development in Polish urban communes. To that end, five development factors encompassing 12 diagnostic variables were identified and a City Education Potential (CEP) index was constructed and its values calculated for 303 urban communes in Poland between 2013 and 2016. The CEP index was then used to:(1) prepare city rankings, (2) identify differences between small, medium-sized and large cities as well as (3) determine the significance of each diagnostic variable in each of the analysed size categories. The last part of the article also highlights the differences between regions in terms of the education-based potential of urban communes.

The sectoral approach to shaping processes of development has recently started to lose ground to a territorial-based approach. The territorial approach has already become the leading paradigm for creating development policies on the EU level as well as on national and/or regional levels. This results from the growing role of territorial capital in the globalizing world – even though globalization is an undisputed fact, the development policies are increasingly emphasizing the need to adapt development plans to the existing, specific conditions characterizing each territory. Endogenic resources which in their entirety create territorial capital are typically located within the administrative borders of several, functionally inter-dependent territorial units. That is why individual communes (or other territorial units, i.e. districts or even regions) should not become the leading subjects of development policies as this role is best performed by entire functional areas. A functional area may cover the territory of anywhere from several to over a dozen communes and/ or districts located in not just one administrative region and as such requires that an integrative approach to steering development processes is applied. The article aims at analyzing the changes in perception of the ‘territorial capital’ concept as well as at highlighting its growing importance with regards to development processes. The authors will also indicate the possible dimensions in which integration of the approach to steering development processes is possible.

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