Prospects for a European Municipal Data Archive (EMDA)

• Main Author: Lidström, Anders
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen 2019
• Subjects: Local government; municipal data; comparative politics; Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies); Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier); Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-155464

This report summarizes a review of the availability of comparable municipal level data on local politics and administration in 29 European countries (the EU member countries excluding Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxemburg and Malta but including Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and also Israel). The information was collected through a survey of experts, mainly members of the Cost Action Project on Local Public Sector Reforms (IS1207) that was carried out 2013-2017. The report shows that data availability varies between the different countries. However, with some work it would be possible to establish, for the first time, a database, covering 18-20 countries and with selected data on local political, administrative and socio-economic conditions for a specific year. A second, and more ambitious stage, which may require recoding and processing of data, would make it possible to add further years, countries and variables. COST Action IS1207 Local Public Sector Reforms: An International Comparison