Changes in the Socioeconomic Situation of the Capitals of the Former Voivodships after the Implementation of the Local Government Reform. Basic Trends

On January 1, 1999, Poland implemented an administrative reform that resulted in 31 cities losing their status as voivodship capitals. This change removed a significant, and for some cities, the most important factor driving their development. Negative consequences quickly emerged, including the out-migration of qualified staff, population decline, reduced investment and economic activity, and a decrease in the income of residents. The aim of the study is to assess the changes in the economic situation of these former voivodship capitals following the reform’s implementation. Using statistical methods, convergence models, a taxonomic measure of development and the Wrocław taxonomy method the study examines the socioeconomic changes that occurred. The analysis is based on the average annual growth rates of ten selected indicators, focusing on changes in the socioeconomic situation rather than their absolute level of development. Therefore, cities ranked highest are those that developed the fastest in the analyzed period, not necessarily those with the highest level of economic development. The taxonomic measure of development shows values ranging from 0.31 to 0.65. This indicates that individual cities experienced different rates of development after the reform, but no clear leader emerged with the highest growth rate across most indicators. Similarly, no cities demonstrated consistently low growth rates across most indicators.