Municipal Pre-Merger Spending in Norway and Denmark

This dataset supports a study comparing local government fiscal behavior before amalgamations in Norway and Denmark. It is used to analyze the effects of state regulations on pre-merger overspending using a Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference design. The author is Jostein Askim.

Use Cases

• Analyze pre-merger overspending patterns in Norwegian municipalities compared to regulated Danish counterparts.
• Apply a Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference design to estimate the fiscal cost of non-regulation in local government reforms.
• Study the relationship between state-imposed fiscal autonomy restrictions and municipal capital investment before amalgamation.
• Compare current expenditure trends between regulated and non-regulated municipalities in the final year before merging.

Strengths

• Data supports a published academic study on a specific public policy question.
• Enables a comparative analysis of two distinct national regulatory approaches (Norway and Denmark).
• The dataset was last updated in February 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Limitations

• The specific variables, column count, and row count are unknown, limiting assessment of analytical scope.
• Sample data and file formats are unavailable, hindering preview of data structure and usability.
• The dataset's temporal coverage and exact geographic granularity are not specified.

Provenance

Source

Harvard Dataverse, authored by Jostein Askim.

Collection Method

Data compiled for a comparative study of local government reforms in Norway and Denmark.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-02-20.

Geography

Norway and Denmark.