The impact of local government investments on the subjective and objective quality of life of households on the example of the Biała Podlaska municipal commune

Abstract

The condition of the national economy is a factor that indirectly influences the quality of life of the society as well as of individual households. One of the elements influencing its creation are activities undertaken by local government units. The unit closest to households is a commune that carries out a number of its own and commissioned tasks. Investments implemented by municipalities can, and often are financed from funds obtained from the European Union. The aim of the article was to try to answer the question whether investments financed under the EU funds carried out by local government units affect the subjective and objective quality of households’ lives. Surveys were carried out for the purpose of the research. The selection of the test sample was of a convenient nature. One of the assumptions for participation in the study was the place of residence in the Municipality of Biała Podlaska. The research was conducted on a group of 176 household managers in 2015. To determine the objective standard of living, statistical data from surveys carried out by the Central Statistical Office and published for public use on www.stat.gov.pl - Local Data Bank were used. An additional source was data obtained from the Office of the Biała Podlaska Municipal Commune. The results obtained from the research indicated that the surveyed household managers had a lot of knowledge about the investments carried out by the local government, and also highly valued the legitimacy of the projects included in the research. However, according to the respondents, the quality of life did not improve. It can be assumed that these investments, in the opinion of the respondents, do not increase the quality of life as they do not entail new jobs.