Scientific article
30. NOV 2016
30. NOV 2016
Kurt Houlberg
Economy and Governance
Economy and Governance
Key Expertise:
- Democracy,
- Administration,
- Organization,
- Municipalities and regions,
- Styring,
- Improving efficiency,
- Governance,
- Key figures,
- Local Government Reforms,
- Public private partnerships,
- Intermunicipal Equalization
Areas of knowledge
Public Policy, Public Administration, Local Government Finance and Financial management, Local Government Reform, Contracting out. A main research interest is the influence of scale, fiscal environment and political factors on local government policy, financial management and effectiveness. In recent years, a particular interest has been studies of local government reforms and in particular the economic and democratic consequences of the Danish local government reform in 2007.
Methods
Kurt primarily works with registry data at the municipal level on municipal economy, size, urbanization and fiscal and social environment. Depending on the purpose of the study, registry data are often combined with survey data and document studies.
Background
Kurt holds a PhD in political science from University of Southern Denmark. He started as a director of research in the former AKF (now part of VIVE) in 2010. Prior to that, he worked as a managing director in a private consultancy company, working with municipal policy and financial management, and as external lecturer at University of Southern Denmark. Kurt has been Professor in political science/public policy at VIVE since 2021.
Selected publications
Scientific article
18. FEB 2015
18. FEB 2015
Petersen, O. H., Houlberg, K., & Christensen, L. R. (2015). Contracting out local services: A tale of technical and social services. Public Administration Review, 75(4), 560-570.
Scientific article
15. JAN 2015
15. JAN 2015
Houlberg, K., & Pedersen, L. H. (2015). Political Consensus and Fiscal Outcomes. Local Government Studies, 41(1), 78-99.
Scientific article
17. OCT 2014
17. OCT 2014
Blom-Hansen, J., Houlberg, K., & Serritzlew, S. (2014). Size, Democracy and the Economic Costs of Running the Political System. American Journal of Political Science, 58(4), 790-803.
Scientific article
FEB 2018
FEB 2018
Houlberg, K., Hansen, S. W., & Pedersen, L. H. (2018). How is Political Influence Redistributed in Times of Fiscal Austerity? Scandinavian Political Studies, 41(1), 98-119. https://doi.org/0.1111/1467-9477.12110
Scientific article
3. FEB 2025
3. FEB 2025
Askim, J., Houlberg, K., & Klausen, J. E. (2025). Local government amalgamations and pre-merger overspending: Central naivety meets local opportunism. Journal of Urban Affairs, 47(2), 451-467. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2023.2187302
Book contribution
24. FEB 2023
24. FEB 2023
Labour Market
Labour Market
Pedersen, N. J. M., & Houlberg, K. (2023). Effects of strengthened economic incentives in a decentralized active labour market policy (ALMP) context – the 2016 reform in Denmark. In N. J. M. Pedersen, & H.-A. Kim (Eds.), Changing labour market and the role of subnational governments : The Copenhagen Workshop 2018 (pp. 46-81). The Korea Institute of Public Finance . https://www.vive.dk/da/udgivelser/changing-labour-market-and-the-role-of-subnational-governments-4z61m3xq/
Scientific article
2023
2023
Management and implementation
Management and implementation
Vabo, S., Fimreite, A. L., & Houlberg, K. (2023). Why such a different choice of tools? Analysing recent local government reforms in Denmark and Norway. Local Government Studies, 49(2), 355-374. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2021.2013210
Scientific article
5. MAR 2024
5. MAR 2024
Petersen, O. H., Hansen, J. R., & Houlberg, K. (2024). The administrative burden of doing business with the government: Learning and compliance costs in Business‐Government interactions. Public Administration, 102(1), 188-206. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12904
Scientific article
5. DEC 2022
5. DEC 2022
Economy and Governance
Management and implementation, Economy and Governance
Askim, J., Houlberg, K., & Klausen, J. E. (2022). Fiscal easing in local governments facing potential merger: Visible in budgets or hidden in overruns? Public Administration, 100(4), 999-1018. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12781
Scientific article
1. NOV 2024
1. NOV 2024
Callanan, M., Houlberg, K., Raudla, R., & Teles, F. (2024). “Top-down” local government mergers: Political and institutional factors facilitating radical amalgamation reforms. Journal of Urban Affairs, 46(10), 2040–2063. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2022.2144335
Selected research projects
