Ageing as a determinant of local government performance: myth or reality? the Portuguese experience

Abstract

ABSTRACT The age structure of asociety has long been ahot topic in public administration, including in local government, where such discussion should, at the most obvious level, promote policies related to active ageing and the protection of the elderly. Ageing is asignificant issue in Portugal, putting pressure on local and central governments. Whether the population s aging is adeterminant of local government s overall performance is aquestion that finds few answers in the literature. Our results suggest that there is only atenuous relationship between ageing and some dimensions of council performance, particularly socio-economic development and financial sustainability. In life as awhole, ageing is seen as detrimental to performance; but it explains no more than atenth of the variance in councils performance. Thus, individual councils may provide services efficiently regardless of the age structure of their communities. There are far more important dimensions for explaining performance by local government than ageing.