ASSESSMENT OF THE MARKETING CAPACITY OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES BASED ON SOCIAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE EXPENDITURE

Abstract

The article examines the role of social and infrastructure expenditures in the formation of the marketing capacity of territorial communities. The relevance of the topic is due to the increased competition between communities in the context of decentralization for investments, human capital and resources, which increases the importance of the effective use of budget funds and the formation of an attractive environment for living and conducting economic activities. The purpose of the study is to assess the marketing capacity of territorial communities of the Western region of Ukraine based on the analysis of social and infrastructure expenditures per capita. The empirical basis is data on 424 territorial communities for 2024, formed on the basis of information from the dashboard “Budgets of territorial communities of Ukraine” of the “Decentralization” portal. The min-max normalization method was used for the analysis, which allowed bringing the indicators to a comparable form and forming an integral index using the same weights. Based on the obtained values, the communities were distributed by quartiles. The results of the study showed significant differences between the studied territorial communities. In particular, in communities with higher incomes, a larger share of capital and infrastructure expenditures is observed, which forms their investment attractiveness. At the same time, in less capable communities, education expenditures prevail, which indicates an emphasis on basic social functions. A high level of correlation was found between community incomes and the volume of social and infrastructure expenditures (r = 0.79), which confirms the dependence of infrastructure development on the financial capabilities of communities. An uneven distribution of expenditures was also established, in particular their concentration in communities with a higher level of financial capabilities. The generalization of the results allowed us to distinguish two models of community functioning - investment-oriented and basic-social. This determines different opportunities for the development of territories and the level of their marketing attractiveness. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained by local governments in the formation of budget policy and the development of territorial development strategies.