부산대학교 도서관

This research seeks to investigate the existence of spatial autocorrelation within the expenditure framework of local governments in Korea, and to comparatively analyze the intensity of such autocorrelation across various expenditure categories. Addressing the limitations of previous studies, we have distinguished between national and local expenses in the budget of local governments, restricting our analysis exclusively to the local expenses. Our principal findings are as follows. Firstly, through the use of Moran I tests on cross-sectional data partitioned by expenditure categories, we have found evidence of spatial autocorrelation in the residuals for the majority of these categories. Secondly, both spatial lag and spatial error variables were found to be significant across all expenditure categories, with the intensity of spatial interactions of local government"s own-sourced spending being the most notable in the realms of transportation and regional development. Lastly, population density and per capita local taxes were recognized as the leading factors augmenting welfare spending.