기초지자체 통합 효과 분석: 청주-청원 통합 사례를 중심으로

초록

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the Cheongju‒Cheongwon integration?the first autonomous amalgamation driven by the two local governments in Korea-and to derive policy implications for future regional policies based on the analysis results. For the empirical analysis,the aggregate data of regions were used as analysis data, and the synthetic control method, which is widely used as one of the quasi-experimental design methods, was employed as an analysis method. The analysis shows that the Cheongju-Cheongwon amalgamation resulted in an improvement in fiscal conditions. On the other hand, the amalgamation did not affect the budget size,which suggests no economies of scale. Finally, there was no statistically significant effect on the GRDP per capita. Based on these findings, we argue that more policy interventions aimed at regional integration are necessary to achieve balanced national development and local autonomy system given the rapidly changing demographic dynamics. In addition, results of this study provide implications for the special local governments and related policy directions to effectively respond to the decline in local population.

키워드