Potencial Demográfico e Área de Pressão Urbana como Critérios de Distribuição de Fundos pelas Autarquias Locais

Abstract

Land are, corrected by orographic factors, and population, corrected by touristic flows, are common criteria used in the distribution of central funds between local administrations. Nevertheless, the boundaries of territorial administrations and the variability of population density introduce some bias in the allocation of funds for local competences, which cannot be corrected by just weighting the criteria area and population. The aim of this article is to propose two new criteria for the allocation of central funds among local administrations: the demographic potential, that lowers the negative effect of the boundaries of territorial administrations; and the area with urban pressure, estimated using area and populations that corrects the variability of population density. The test of these two criteria regarding the existing ones is done using the accounts of Azorean municipalities. lt is concluded that the criteria such as area with urban pressure and demographic potential not only respond well to the problems associated with the direct and additive use of the area and the population but also they are easy to estimate. On the other hand, the questions related to equity can become explicit through the manipulation of the attrition parameter of the criteria demographic potential; actually it is possible to obtain more or less concentrated distributions only through the manipulation of one parameter.