Der Einfluss \u2018Zentraler Orte\u2019 auf r\ue4umliche Ausgabenmuster: eine empirische Studie zu den kommunalen Ausgaben f\ufcr Kultur in Flandern

摘要

Governments often see it as their responsibility to support cultural life and at times spend a significant amount of resources in the pursuit of this goal. The present paper analyses whether and how municipalities influence each other in this decision to spend resources on the arts (using data on local government cultural spending in 304 Flemish municipalities in 2002). Following \u2018central place theory\u2019, the focal point of the analysis is the idea that \u2013 especially for cultural expenditures \u2013 large municipalities (and, specifically, \u2018central places\u2019) may affect their neighbours\u2019 behaviour differently than small municipalities. The empirical analysis is supportive of this idea. Indeed, we show that Flemish municipalities\u2019 cultural spending is generally positively affected by that in neighbouring municipalities. This pattern is, however, significantly more complex for municipalities neighbouring the 13 largest Flemish cities.