Policy Sciences 36: 257^278, 2003.

2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 257

Public Policy and Legitimacy: A historical policy analysis of

the interplay of public policy and legitimacy

ANDERS HANBERGER
Umeafi Centre for Evaluation Research, Umeafi University, SE-901 87 Umeafi, Sweden
Email: anders.hanberger@ucer.umu.se

Abstract. This article explores the interplay of local government policy and legitimacy from a
broad postpositivist perspective where historical accounts and narratives are used in a complemen-
tary fashion. The basic assumption is that legitimacy is the product of satisfying felt needs and
solving perceived problems. Health and social malaise problems and related policies of the past 120
years are analyzed in 50 Swedish municipalities. The analysis indicates that municipality policies
respond to local problems only partly. Generally, local government policies responded dynamically
to ‘objective’ and perceived problems before the 1970s, but did not resolve the problems. Today’s
legitimacy crisis could, to some extent, be explained by the discrepancy between high expectations
created in the policy discourse and the central and local government’s incapacity to o¡er sustain-
able solutions to ongoing problems. It is suggested that if history is considered more seriously in
public policy making it could help policy makers and citizens readjust expectations, illuminate the
limits and prospects for public policy, and identify ways to restore legitimacy. Moreover, legitimacy
could be restored if more realistic policies are worked out and if a new division of power between
the levels of government is introduced.

Introduction

The conditions of public policy making are continuously changing. At present,

policy makers are a¡ected by the legitimacy crisis in modern states and cannot
routinely count on existing legitimacy capital as a condition for policy making.
On the contrary, policy makers frequently need to legitimatize the current
policy. The decline in public con¢dence has put policy makers in a tricky
situation, for as Robertson (1998: pp. 11^12) notes, as public con¢dence has
eroded and conditions on policy making have multiplied, it has become ‘in-
creasingly di⁄cult to exercise national policy authority actively to address
pressing public problems.’
Legitimacy problems a¡ect policy makers in various ways. For example,
¢nding legitimate solutions to real-world problems becomes more di⁄cult.
This situation calls for an adjustment of assumptions generally made in policy
analysis (PA), that is, the assumption that legitimacy ¢rst and foremost is
achieved through democratic institutions and processes, and that public policy
starts o¡ with pre-existing legitimacy capital. Legitimacy cannot be taken for
granted; any solution to prevailing problems has implications for legitimacy
that must be considered. For this reason more attention should be paid to the
interplay of public policy and legitimacy.
258

One way to explore the interplay of public policy and legitimacy is to take a
historical perspective. To (re)gain public con¢dence in the established, or a
new, order is a slow process (MacIver, 1965; Deutsch, 1970; Wiberg, 1988). A
historical inquiry of the interplay of policy and legitimacy might enhance our
understanding of how to deal with real-world problems and legitimacy prob-
lems at the same time.
However, those in power are primarily interested in making use of history if
it can justify and promote their preferred course of action. Policy makers are
generally preoccupied with creating good images of their institutions and
policies rather than critically learning how policies work in practice. It seems
easier to introduce new policies than thoroughly examine those in use. But
instead of using history for one’s own needs, history could be used to facilitate
a policy learning process, and a better understanding of how public policy
interacts with legitimacy could help policy makers deal with pressing problems
in a more re£ective way. If policy makers recognize that it is insu⁄cient to
consider short-term economic and political e¡ects of their preferred policies,
and instead thoroughly integrate knowledge of the interplay of policy and
legitimacy, this could be a way to promote policy making. It could also add
meaning to a community and illuminate a way to start dealing with the legiti-
macy crisis.
The purpose of this article is to discuss what could be learnt from a speci¢c
PA-framework designed to gain knowledge of the interplay of public policy and
legitimacy from a historical perspective. The framework is applied to 50 Swedish
municipalities. A step by step account of the methodology will not be given.
Rather the focus is on the ‘pragmatic problem-solving way to gain legitimacy.’
Two types of problems and related policies of the past 120 years are analyzed:
health problems (policies) and social malaise problems (policies). Attention is
paid to how social problems and related policies have evolved (‘objective’
reality) and how perceptions of problems and solutions (perceived reality)
have changed. The basic idea is that legitimacy is the product of satisfying felt
needs and solving perceived problems. The framework is brie£y outlined in the
Appendix, together with a discussion of how to conceptualize and examine
local problems, policies and legitimacy in a process of change.

Historical policy analysis of policy and legitimacy

The term ‘Historical Policy Analysis’ (HPA) is introduced and used for a PA
that scrutinizes historical and contemporary material systematically by means
of using PA concepts and methods. HPA does not refer to an approach with
unique elements. It refers to analyzing public policy from various historical
perspectives within a PA discourse. One way of doing this, or one example of a
HPA, will be discussed in this paper. A (H)PA that focuses on the interplay of
policy and legitimacy should include an analysis of how the established institu-
tions structure and restrict public policy (Hill, 1997: p. 123; Peters, 1999), and
 259

how the dominant policy discourse has evolved (Schram, 1993; Torgerson,
1996). Generally, public policy could contribute to recreating legitimacy for an
existing or evolving order, hence it is important to consider a policy’s history,
structural changes and possible futures.
Harold Lasswell and others in the policy sciences are concerned with history.
Few policy analysts, however, have analyzed historical material systematically
(Lasswell, 1971; Schneider and Werle, 1991; Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993;
cf. Dror, 1983:p. 75; Brewer and deLeon, 1983; Torgerson, 1985; deLeon, 1993;
Parsons, 1995).1 Lasswell thought that when the past is approached contex-
tually, ‘it is possible to achieve novel perspectives on the con¢guration of all
events ^ past, present, and future’ (Lasswell, 1971: 9, p. 14). When Lasswell
argued for elaborating ‘developmental constructs’ in policy sciences, the pur-
pose was not to discover historical laws. Such constructs should instead ‘...en-
able the policy analyst, and hopefully the decisionmaker, to ¢nd his way in the
complexities of the total situation in which he operates’ (Lasswell, 1971: p. 67).2
The image of ‘development’ or change, which the analyst constructs, is tentative
and thereby open to revision (Torgerson, 1985: p. 248). The HPA discussed in
this article could be seen as one way of elaborating ‘development constructs,’ in
this case of local government policies and legitimacy.
A policy’s or regime’s own history restricts the freedom of choice for policy
making, according to historical institutional theory. It is recognized that
choices made early in a policy’s or governing system’s history have implications
for the way a policy evolves. In particular, choices made when an institution
(regime) or policy is being formed will have continuing and largely determinate
in£uence over the policy far into the future (Krassner, 1988; Pierson, 1992;
Steinmo et al., 1992; Peters, 1999; Bro, 2000). A policy is expected to follow a
speci¢c incremental pattern, interrupted only at certain formative moments of
‘punctuated equilibrium’ (Krassner, 1988). Once on the path, it is di⁄cult to
change policy direction. A premise is that ideas and institutions in combination
could explain path-dependence, whereas actors, under certain conditions,
could change the direction. To understand the interplay of public policy and
legitimacy the notion of path-dependence and formative moments could be
applied.

The interplay of public policy and legitimacy

The framework used in this article is brie£y presented in the Appendix and a
comprehensive presentation of the framework is available (Hanberger, 1997).
In this section the case study to which the framework is applied is brie£y
outlined. Single municipalities and categories of municipalities are analyzed
for the period 1874^1990/1995. Attention will be paid to how local problems
and policies have evolved and whether, and to what extent, problem-oriented
and problem-e¡ective local government policies have contributed to legitimacy.
All ¢ndings are restricted to two types (aggregates) of problems and related
260

policies: health problems and social malaise problems, i.e., poverty and unem-
ployment. Other conditions a¡ecting local government policy and legitimacy,
such as the local economy, industrial structure, political majority, etc., have
been accounted for, but these conditions will not be discussed in this paper
(Hanberger, 1997).
The case study is based on 50 Swedish municipalities (after 1974 amal-
gamated to six). These municipalities are located all around the country, includ-
ing both urban and rural areas. The population varied between a few hundred
to several thousand in the 1870s and between 10,000 and 100,000 after 1974. The
proportion of the population working in industry, trade and the public sector
also varied among the municipalities. Dramatic changes in the trade and
industry structure, as well as in many other conditions, have taken place during
the past hundred years in all municipalities. The principles of selection include
size, trade and industry structure, economy, urbanization, and political struc-
ture. But no claim is made that these municipalities are representative of the
country as a whole. Indeed no selection could claim to be. Rather they serve to
ensure variation when the interplay of policy and legitimacy is explored. The
selected municipalities will serve as mirrors of the Swedish society.
In 1862 the modern bourgeois municipality was created in Sweden, and at
that time the country was comprised of around 2500 municipalities. Only
minor changes in the political-administrative geography occurred before 1952.
From that year, however, the map changed radically. The ¢rst amalgamation
reform was passed in 1952 and a second reform was passed 10 years later. In
1974, when the second reform was ¢nalized, the local government structure had
changed fundamentally. The number of municipalities had been reduced from
2500 to around 280 and the number of politicians to one-third. In small
municipalities 80^90% of the politicians had lost their mandates. The aim of
the reforms was ¢rst and foremost to create larger, sustainable municipalities
more capable of securing e¡ective delivery of welfare services to the people. A
population of at least 8,000 was considered a minimum for implementing the
growing number of services planned by the welfare state (Gustafsson, 1980).
The state hoped that eventually all municipalities would feel a need to merge
into larger units. However, in the late 1960s not all municipalities were pre-
pared to give up power and self-determination to larger units voluntarily. A
compulsory amalgamation law was then passed in 1969. Some municipalities
mobilized against what they perceived as state intervention in local a¡airs and
against the violation of the principle of self-governance. Those arguing against
the 1969 law claimed that self-governance and local democracy, as well as deep
community values, would deteriorate if the proposed strong centralized state-
municipality order became law. In the amalgamation process local democracy
turned out to be of no value ^ the state overruled local majority decisions.
Although the reforms had the majority’s support in most municipalities, the
people were divided. In most municipalities a large minority argued and voted
against the reform.
These reforms clearly changed the power distribution in the state and they
 261

have had a largely determinate impact on local government policy and legiti-
macy. After this brief historical background the article will look into the inter-
play of policy and legitimacy in some detail.

Health and social malaise problems

The evolution of health and environment problems and social malaise prob-
lems are analyzed in two ways. Time-series analyses (univariate ARIMA-anal-
ysis), based on time-series of problem-indicators,3 are used to identify long-
term patterns of change. Second, text and discourse analyses are used to grasp
perceptual changes and the social mobilization around perceived problems.
Time-series analyses of health problems, based on time-series of infant
mortality4 for all municipalities, are best represented by an autoregressive-
integrated ARIMA-model (1,1,0) for the period 1870^1920, whereas an inte-
grated-moving average ARIMA-model (0,1,1) turned out to be the best ¢tting
model for the period 1952^1992.5 The autoregressive component could be
interpreted as capturing incremental change, whereas the integrated compo-
nent captures some kind of trend. Contrary to the results for all municipalities,
stationary models, indicated by a moving-average component, turned out to be
the best ¢tting models in most municipalities during the period 1870^1920. The
analyses indicate that health problems have been £uctuating in these munici-
palities. The outcome of crops and epidemics could partly explain the moving
average pattern a hundred years ago. In the later period (1952^1992) some kind
of integrated model turned out to be the best ¢tting model for health problems
in most municipalities, which indicates that health problems at that time were
diminishing. When assessed by other available measures, for example indica-
tors of housing conditions, the pattern identi¢ed was the same, indicating that
health problems were diminishing during the 20th century. Despite the general
trend, health problems di¡ered across time and space, implying that health
problems evolved di¡erently and that an aggregated measure could not do
justice to local di¡erences.
Social malaise problems, measured as social-care recipients, were analyzed
along the same lines. Time-series analyses show that autoregressive ARIMA-
models (1,0,0) are the best ¢tting models on aggregated level as well as in most
municipalities, no matter which period is being analyzed.6 Other indicators of
social malaise problems, for example unemployment, pointed in the same
direction. Apparently, social malaise problems have £uctuated during the past
120 years, increasing in some periods and/or communities and decreasing in
others. In contrast, health and environment problems decreased during the
20th century. These patterns of change suggest that health and environment
problems are, to some degree, solvable, i.e., they can be reduced or removed.
Social malaise problems appear, on the other hand, to be unsolvable, i.e., these
problems cannot be reduced below a certain level (corresponding to about 4%
of the population in receipt of social aid). Seemingly, public policy deals with
partly unsolvable or ongoing problems as well as solvable problems.
262

Text and discourse analysis indicates that the perceptions related to these
problems have changed. For example, throwing polluted water in the gutter or
river was not generally perceived as a problem in the 1870s. Later, when such
behavior was connected to sickness, the perception of a health problem
emerged. Generally, the mobilization of local problems and the power to de¢ne
the two types of problems focused in the HPA have moved from the municipal-
ities to the state during the 20th century. In the 19th century, municipalities
largely de¢ned the local problems themselves. Later, and particularly from the
1950s onward, the government de¢ned what the problem was and o¡ered
general solutions to deal with garbage and waste problems. At that time the
government linked garbage and waste problems to the large number of small
and ine¡ective municipality plants. The solution to the technical problem was a
central refuse disposal plant. Obviously, the environmental impact caused by
increasing transportation was not considered a problem at that time.
From the 1950s, the problems studied in this article were de¢ned within a
welfare state policy discourse, where only certain views of problems and solu-
tions could be communicated (cf. Schram, 1993; Dryzek, 1996; Torgerson,
1996; Fischer and Hajer, 1999). Public organizations were generally thought of
as the solution to a majority of problems and the government generally o¡ered
large-scale and centralized solutions to the problems. Although problems and
solutions for the most part were de¢ned by the state, local governments started
to mobilize local viewpoints and claimed more power to deal with their own
problems at the end of the 20th century. Local governments started to view the
central government’s power to de¢ne problems and solutions as inequitable
and asked for more responsibility to deal with their own a¡airs. This was
particularly the case in larger municipalities. As a result the number of loyal
implementers decreased. Together with what has been said about the amal-
gamation reforms, this indicates that the state did not succeed completely in
integrating the municipalities into the welfare state. A legitimacy problem with-
in the state became apparent as a consequence of these reforms, which esca-
lated when the power to deal with local problems moved to the center.

Municipality policies

What could be learnt from a historical analysis of the related policies? Social
policy, when measured as social expenditures, turned out to be best represented
by an autoregressive-integrated trend model (1,1,0) for the whole 120-year
period. No trend models, however, were identi¢ed before 1920 in any munici-
pality. This implies that long-term patterns might be identi¢ed incorrectly when
based on univariate ARIMA-analysis only. As a complement, average expendi-
ture on social policy (per capita) for each decade was used to describe long-
term policy changes (not reported in this article). Such measures not only
prevent invalid conclusions on patterns of change but also indicate the scope
of various policies.
 263

Social costs could be interpreted as direct policy responses to social malaise

problems whereas infrastructure costs could be understood as mainly indirect
responses to the same problems. Building bridges, water-plants, roads, public
buildings, water and sewage systems, etc., could directly reduce unemployment
and indirectly contribute to local economic development and social betterment.
Infrastructure policy was best represented by a complex autoregressive-inte-
grated-moving-average model (1,1,1) for the 120 year period. This indicates
that infrastructure policy is clearly related to the previous year’s policy, con-
tinuously increasing, and now and then taking radical steps. In most cities the
expansion of infrastructure policy started in the 1870s. Municipality policies
dealing with waste and garbage were introduced at the end of the century in a
majority of towns and as many as 50 years later in most rural municipalities.
Thus, time-series analysis indicates that the evolution of di¡erent social malaise
policies varied across both time and space.
Time-series analysis of local health policy shows that this policy has not
followed the same pattern as social or infrastructure policy. In most municipal-
ities no expansion took place in this policy ¢eld. The main explanation is that
the responsibility for health and medical measures was turned over to the
county councils by most municipalities. However, a few large cities had, and
still have, this responsibility. As a result aggregated municipality measures of
health policy are best represented by a trend-model (0,1,0), whereas in most
municipalities some kind of autoregressive ARIMA-model turns out to be the
best ¢tting model (1,0,0). Thus most local governments’ health policies have
followed the previous year’s policies. For example, investments in water and
sewage systems, indicating health and environment policy, di¡ered largely in
the towns in the late 19th century.
In sum, before the 1920s, stationary models, and from the 1920s, trend
models, are the best ¢tting models representing most local government policies
examined here. No trend model could be identi¢ed in health policies because
the lion’s share of health policy has been the responsibility of the county coun-
cils. There are signi¢cant di¡erences among the municipalities and important
intra- and inter-municipality di¡erences are veiled after the amalgamation re-
forms because di¡erences are spread out in the larger units. Generally, munici-
pality policies vary across time and space. This implies that the expansion of
di¡erent policies has not been as incremental as aggregated measures indicate.

Problem orientation in local government policies

At this point it is possible to combine what has been learnt about problems and
policies independently and return to the basic issue of this article, that is, to
look into the interplay of policy and legitimacy. First, the question of whether
public policies have been developed close to local problems will be explored,
followed by the question of whether the same policies have contributed to
resolving the problems. Finally, the assumptions underpinning the pragmatic
way of (re)creating legitimacy will be probed.
264

Table 1. Problem orientation in local government policies 1874^1990 expressed as correlation

coe⁄cients.

Period Type of Social costs ^ Infrastructure costs ^ Number

municipality aid recipients aid recipients of cases

1874^1920 Rural .22; .24 (L) ”.21; ”.18 (L) 1,718

1874^1920 Town .31; .56 (L) ”.39; ”.36 (L) 120
1921^1940 Town .75; .69 (L) ”.27 * 41
1941^1960 Town ” ”.30 46
1961^1973 Amalgamated .93; .91 (L) ”.30; ”.30 (L) 231
1974^1990 Amalgamated .21; .17 (L) .22 (L) 98

Note: The ¢rst coe⁄cient represents the correlation between costs and aid recipients in the same
year, whereas L is the 1-year lagged correlation. All values are signi¢cant (p 5 .05, * = p 5 .10).

Analyzed with both correlation analysis and distance analysis, social policy
(measured as social costs) appears to be closely related to local problems
(measured as social aid recipients) during the ¢rst hundred years; that is, from
1874 to the early 1970s (Table 1). This relation indicates that local government
policy has been problem oriented, developed close to local problems, for the
major part of the period studied.7 The problem orientation appears most of the
time to lag one year behind (marked with L in Table 1). This indicates that local
governments responded slowly to the problems. Distance analysis (measured as
Euclidean distance) pointed in the same direction; accordingly the Euclidean
distance between problems and policies was short when the correlation was
high, and vice versa. After the mid-1970s, however, the connection between
local problems and social policy started to loosen.8
Infrastructure policy (measured as infrastructure costs) was negatively cor-
related with social problems (measured as aid recipients) for all periods except
1974-1990. During the 1980s local infrastructure and industrial policy began,
for the ¢rst time, to follow social malaise problems in the municipalities. Ear-
lier, infrastructure policy grew when problems were small or decreasing. This
indicates that Swedish municipalities, at the end of the 20th century, met local
economic problems with some type of Keynesian expansion policy. Paradoxi-
cally this occurred at the same time as the government’s Keynesian policy no
longer worked as postulated. Instead of a wait and see policy, local govern-
ments preferred to act forcefully to deal with their own problems. Generally,
problems and policies as well as the ‘problem orientation’ have di¡ered across
time and space, partly because the problems have varied and partly because of
di¡erent perceptions and traditions.
When the problem orientation was analyzed through institutions and actors
(see Appendix) the result from the previous correlation analysis was strength-
ened. The problem orientation appeared, in most municipalities, to be more
strongly related to perceived problems and norms. This was particularly the
case 100 years ago. Generally, local governments based their policies on on-
 265

Table 2. Institutions and actors in Va«sterafis social malaise policy 1874^1920.

Institutions and actors Content

Institutions
Programs, goals, rules, strategies Municipality poor relief regulation
Fixed capital Residence for poor
Human capital Private volunteers, administrative sta¡
Support (subsidies) Support to civil society institutions, paid in kind
Organization Private, civil-municipality, municipality-state
Actors
I. Operating within established institutions Private social workers, from 1887 a few
municipality workers
II. ‘Institutional entrepreneurs’ Poor relief board, civil organizations, individuals

going activities in the civil society by supporting and strengthening civil institu-
tions and solutions initiated by actors in the civil society. Such institutions, for
example charity organizations, local insurance institutions or local banks, were
already created to deal with perceived problems. In rural municipalities, social
malaise policies were based on the villages’ traditional organization of poor
relief and were frequently paid in kind. In urban areas, where the correspond-
ing institutions did not exist, new institutions were created in response to
pressing problems. The problem orientation of local government policies is
generally indicated by a close collaboration with civil society.
Following the framework (as elaborated in the Appendix) Table 2 illustrates
social malaise policy in the city of Va«sterafis, 1874^1920. Social work was steered
by municipality poor relief regulation. The majority of social aid recipients
were helped out by other citizens and paid by the municipality. The social
support was generally o¡ered in kind. In Va«sterafis there was resistance to
permitting any municipality organization to take responsibility for social malaise
problems. After 20 years of discussion, however, the town reserved a building
for poor people ^ this was in 1887. In Va«sterafis, as in other fast growing towns,
citizens themselves organized solutions to perceived problems. Most frequently,
local authorities built their policies on such initiatives. However, the municipal-
ity eventually started to take a growing number of initiatives in the early 1900s.
Infrastructure policy was sometimes used in direct response to unemployment
or other pressing problems. In the 1910s, for example, the town built apartments
in response to a housing shortage and in the 1930s municipality jobs were created
to deal with unemployment problems. Actors in civil society organized most
social work, and the municipality paid volunteers to do the job. Those in favor
of a more active social policy in the municipalities turned their claims to the
state. When analyzed through local narratives the problem orientation of local
government policies turned out to be strong because of its close connection to
civil society. This is not to say that the responses were enough, but local govern-
ments responded, with limited resources, to both local problems and felt needs.
266

Institutional entrepreneurs were found both within and outside the munici-
pality; the poor relief board, civil organizations and individual citizens created
new types of institutions to deal with social malaise problems. Various meas-
ures and steps towards a centralized social state, mainly realized after the
Second World War, were taken in the early 1900s in Va«sterafis, as well as in the
other municipalities.
When the problem orientation started to decline in the 1970s, it coincided
with the professionalization of social work and the increasing number of social
workers in the municipalities. A large ‘¢xed’ and ‘human capital’ was built up in
the municipalities, particularly in the ¢eld of child and elderly care, but the
government and central agencies decided how to use this ‘capital’ and some of
the pressing problems were then overlooked.
To what extent have local government policies been successful (problem
e¡ective), that is, contributed to dealing with or resolving local problems? The
case study indicates that municipalities were generally more successful in cop-
ing with local problems a hundred years ago. Health policies appear to have
contributed towards solving local health problems up until 1970. For example
when municipalities developed policies to deal with waste problems and pol-
luted water, the impact was signi¢cant a hundred years ago. Social policies, on
the other hand, have not directly contributed to solving social malaise prob-
lems; rather local governments have found themselves dealing with ongoing
problems. Indirectly, however, the latter type of policies contributed to eco-
nomic development and promoted the development of local industry during the
¢rst hundred years. After 1970, only parts of social policies show positive e¡ects
on local problems. Instead these policies generally seem to have exacerbated or
increased social problems; supply problems and other social problems were not
reduced when a majority of people experienced economic progress. Attempts to
resolve social problems, together with social service delivery, ended up becom-
ing part of the local problem at the end of the 20th century. The problem-
solving e¡ectiveness seems to have decreased when the state built a web of
welfare policies. Paradoxically those who needed the welfare state the most
were slipping through the holes in the web.
An overall lesson of the HPA is that municipality policies generally have
responded to local problems, but have not resolved the problems. In the domi-
nant welfare discourse, however, sustainable solutions are available to the
problems. Part of the legitimacy crisis could be related to the discrepancy
between high expectations created in the policy discourse and the central and/
or local government’s incapacity to ¢nd sustainable solutions to ongoing prob-
lems.

The problem-solving way to gain legitimacy

So far the analysis has been based on the assumptions behind the pragmatic
way to gain legitimacy. At this stage these assumptions will be probed by
 267

looking directly into the interplay of local policy and legitimacy. More speci¢-
cally, expressions of content and discontent are searched for in relation to
variations in problem orientation and problem e¡ectiveness.
In periods when municipalities developed policies close to perceived and
observed problems, distrust or protests were more or less absent. Moreover, in
local narratives and historical accounts actions taken by municipalities and/or
by the state in response to perceived problems were described positively and
with a good deal of pride. Citizens generally felt that they were part of the same
project, that is, they felt that they were building the country together. This
indicates that citizens on the whole were satis¢ed with public policy and the
existing socio-political order. In contrast, when municipalities or the state did
not respond to felt needs and perceived local problems discontent with local
and/or the national government was expressed. At the end of the 20th century
the trust in the welfare state in combination with one’s ideological orientation
determined if the state and/or the municipality were blamed for current prob-
lems. As indicated above, the amalgamation reforms were perceived locally as
preventing municipalities from dealing with their own a¡airs. The con¢dence in
the welfare state was damaged by these reforms and the ‘new’ division of power
was not yet legitimatized. The period when the connection between perceived
problems and public policy loosened largely coincided with the process of
centralization. Further, the assumptions behind ‘the pragmatic problem-solv-
ing way to gain legitimacy’ have empirical support during di¡erent periods of
time including pre-democratic and democratic regimes, that is, legitimacy is
(re)created when public policies respond to felt needs and perceived problems,
and vice versa.
Paradoxically, when the state, through the municipalities, introduced more
welfare policies, i.e., from the 1970s and onwards, discontent with local policies
emerged. The expansion of the welfare state was accompanied by growing
demands and expectations among the population. To some extent the discrep-
ancy between expectations of the welfare state’s capacity to deal with and solve
social problems and its inability, in practice, to live up to these high expecta-
tions can explain the late 20th century legitimacy problems. Municipalities have
increasingly been given responsibility by the state for unsolvable or ongoing
problems, e.g., social care for children and the elderly. As long as the economy
did not restrict public institutionalization of di¡erent types of solutions to
social problems and challenges, few worried about the state’s and the munici-
palities’ ability to solve these problems. In the dominant policy discourse,
however, there has not been any discussion about unsolvable or ongoing prob-
lems. On the contrary, solutions are available, and public institutionalization
has generally been conceptualized as the solution to most problems.
268

Table 3. Three models of relations between municipality and state.

Characteristics Integrated Semi-integrated Self-governing

Power distribution Undivided Delegated Divided

Role of the state in Governing, steering, Governing, support- Co-governing, sup-
public policy controlling ing, controlling porting, controlling
Role of the munici- Implementing state Implementing and Self-governing, imple-
pality in public policy intentions adjusting state policies menting state policies
to local needs to local needs
Scope for municipality None Residue Fixed
initiatives

Legality and legitimacy

The power distribution in the state, and the formal authority structure that
gives a mandate to deal with local problems, have implications for the interplay
of public policy and legitimacy. The legal side of social problem solving deter-
mines who can deal the speci¢c problems during di¡erent periods of time. If
local governments, or civil organizations, are given a great deal of responsibility
by the state, such division, or indeed any division of responsibility, requires
legitimatization. Orders (legality) and public support (legitimacy) are continu-
ously changing. Hence, to understand the interplay of public policy and legiti-
macy, attention must also be paid to the power distribution in the state and the
mandate to deal with various problems and challenges. Three ideal-types of
power distribution between the state and the municipality have been developed
and used to describe the process of change.9 The models’ most salient features
are summarized in Table 3.
In the integrated model the power between the state and municipality is
undivided and the municipality is completely integrated into the state, leaving
no room for local initiatives or self-determination. In this model the state
governs and steers the country from the center and the municipality imple-
ments state decisions and intentions. In the semi-integrated model power is
delegated to the municipality level. Although the state still governs and coor-
dinates the country from the center, some freedom of choice is given to the local
level. In this model the state also supports and assists local government initia-
tives and needs. The municipality’s role is to implement state intentions and
policies by adjusting these to local conditions and needs. There is also a residue
for local government initiatives. In the self-governing model the power is clearly
divided between the state and the municipality. Both levels have responsibility
for governing the country. The scope of self-determination is ¢xed and the
municipality decides its own a¡airs to a certain extent. Obviously, none of these
models pays attention to the scope of power vis-a'-vis the economy or civil
society. Su⁄ce it to say that the political sphere could be given more or less
 269

power and authority in relation to other societal spheres. A large civil sphere
would most likely have positive implications for the interplay of public policy
and legitimacy.
These models have been used to illuminate and describe changes in the
distribution of power during the latter part of the 19th and the 20th centuries
in Sweden. In the beginning of the 1870s, the actual division of power between
the state and the municipality in these two policy ¢elds is best described by the
self-governing model, whereas a process towards a centralized state is captured
by the semi-integrated model. From the 1920s to the mid-1970s the distribution
of power changed from a semi-integrated to an integrated model. The central-
ized welfare state, where the municipality ¢rst and foremost was expected to act
as an implementing agency of the state, was apparent in the 1960s^1970s. A
change in direction towards a new or perhaps an old division of responsibility
began in the late 1970s. In the 1980s citizens demanded more measures be taken
by local authorities in order to confront social and unemployment problems,
and to actively try to stop negative trends such as a declining population and
investments. As a result, local industrial policies were growing rapidly during
the 1980s. At the same time a number of municipalities disobeyed the law and
challenged the division of power by taking more initiatives than the regulations
permitted.
During the 1990s the centralized state arbitrarily tried to steer, decentralize
and centralize responsibilities in these two policy ¢elds. Further, there has not
been a clear or sustainable division of power between levels of government
during the most recent decades. Internal problems in the welfare state could
explain part of the late 20th century legitimacy problems.

Recreating legitimacy

A history of perceived success in solving felt needs and perceived problems

imparts a regime with a certain amount of ‘legitimacy capital’ which can carry
it through a patch of bad performance. Without such success, in times of
legitimacy crisis, it becomes increasingly di⁄cult to deal with urgent problems.
Obviously, the welfare state accumulated legitimacy capital which helped carry
it through the 1990s, but this capital has been seriously reduced. Moreover, the
HPA indicates that the democratic welfare state’s legitimacy was (and is) not as
general, and not as stable, as advocates for a centralized welfare state have
assumed. During the past decade, citizens have turned their backs on formal
democratic channels ^ indicated by declining turnover. However, there are no
grounds for interpreting the late 20th century legitimacy crisis as an expression
of distrust for democracy as a regime. Based on the HPA it could be said that
the legitimacy crisis to some extent can be related to the crisis of the centralized
welfare state ^ a state which in practice has distanced itself from local problems
and norms.
One way to promote a process that could recreate legitimacy would be to
270

undertake measures that support a readjustment to more problem-oriented

policies, that is, to permit local governments to respond better to felt needs
and perceived problems. A suggested remedy, based on the HPA, is to ¢nd a
new division of power between the state and the municipality in Sweden, i.e.,
moving (back) towards a self-governing model. The state then has to give up
some of its ambitions and power to govern the whole country from the center.
Today the political system su¡ers from a weak division of power between state
and local government. Twenty years of decentralization, combined with arbi-
trary steering from the center, has undermined political legitimacy. Empowered
local governments and citizens could develop di¡erent forms of governance,
suited to local needs and norms, and, step by step, justify their own and state
authority. When citizens feel that they can in£uence public policies and politi-
cally deal with local problems and needs, a renewed con¢dence in political prob-
lem solving may return. Such recommendations are based on the ‘pragmatic
problem-solving way’ to regain legitimacy. When the state and the municipali-
ties legalise and support attempts and initiatives to deal with and resolve
perceived problems in civil society, this illustrates a two-way process of (re)-
gaining legitimacy: the state legalises di¡erent forms of self-governance and,
from the bottom, there can be a step by step justi¢cation of political authority
at di¡erent levels. This could also be an alternative to the ongoing privatization
of the welfare state led ¢rst and foremost by neo-liberals.

Conclusions

Legitimacy is analyzed as the product of satisfying felt needs and solving

perceived and observed local problems. A case study, based on a historical
policy analysis, indicates that municipality policies respond to local problems
only imperfectly. Indicators of health and social malaise problems as well as
perceived problems sometimes track municipality policies ^ sometimes not.
Municipality policies vary across time and space, as does the success of policy
interventions to alleviate the problems in view. Generally, in periods when local
governments responded to pressing problems, the con¢dence in the established
order was high. In contrast, when policies were not developed close to per-
ceived problems and when the connection between local problems and policies
started to loosen (after 1970) discontent and distrust grew in the community.
An overall lesson is that municipality policies responded actively to ‘objective’
and perceived problems before the 1970s, but did not resolve the problems. In
the dominant welfare discourse, however, it has been argued that solutions are
available to prevailing problems. As indicated in the HPA, part of the legiti-
macy crisis could be explained by the discrepancy between high expectations
created in the policy discourse and the central and local government’s incapacity
to ¢nd sustainable solutions to ongoing problems.
The hypothesis that legitimacy increases through ‘problem-oriented’ and
‘problem-e¡ective’ policies has empirical support in the period prior to 1900 as
 271

well as today. However, under pre-democratic regimes, as well as during periods

of centralized democracy, the support for, and con¢dence in, legality seems to
be the dominant source of legitimacy. The problem solutions implemented by
the welfare state have been accepted above all because of con¢dence in the
central democratic institutions, and because the government operates under the
law and must leave o⁄ce if it loses in a parliamentary election. The democratic
welfare state was legitimatized during the 1950s and 1960s when it actively
responded to felt needs and perceived problems. Contrary to its intentions, the
Swedish amalgamation reforms seem to have initiated the late 20th century
legitimacy crisis. The number of municipalities and politicians was radically
reduced, as was the power and role of the municipalities. In the centralized
welfare state the municipality was turned into an implementation level. Fur-
ther, when the centralized order expanded in di¡erent policy ¢elds in the 1970s
and 1980s without meeting high expectations, and when the problem orienta-
tion and e¡ectiveness decreased, legitimacy problems increased. Paradoxically,
those who needed the welfare state the most began to fall through the holes in
the net. The legitimacy capital, which was built up during the 1950s and 1960s,
was radically reduced by the end of the 20th century.
When the legitimacy capital has been eroded there is no easy way back. In
formative moments in history people seek new visions for the future and a
return to a centralized welfare state is unattractive to most people. The ongoing
process of privatization of parts of the welfare state, led ¢rst and foremost by
bourgeoisie parties, indicates a perceived need for alternatives to the estab-
lished solutions and for more power to ordinary citizens. To regain con¢dence
in political problem-solving, changes ought to be made in the welfare state
concept. If public policy could more actively respond to perceived problems it
could be a way to begin restoring legitimacy. One way, based on the historical
analysis, could be to introduce a new division of power between the levels of
government, o¡ering more power to the municipalities in combination with a
strengthening of local democracy.
As indicated, local government policies are path dependent. The distribu-
tion of power and formal responsibility in the state has greatly restricted and
determined municipality policy during the past 120 years. A number of political
decisions were made to strengthen the state’s power and responsibility in the
two policy ¢elds examined in this article. Politicians, o⁄cials, professionals and
citizens have been socialized, step by step, to associate demands and expecta-
tions with the state, whereas the municipality level has been perceived and used
as an implementation level, that is, as the government’s long arm. Thus, having
historically gone down one path, the choices now open to municipalities in
solving prevailing problems are restricted. Obviously, there are structural as
well as cognitive restrictions to changing path. A formative period arose in the
late 1980s and 1990s. The ‘new’ path has been to move away from the welfare
state concept towards various forms of privatization and arbitrary decentral-
ization and centralization. As indicated, this is not the only possible way to
regain legitimacy for the welfare state and the formative period is not yet over.
272

Fig. 1. Framework for HPA of public policy and legitimacy.

No matter which path is chosen for the future for dealing with real-world
problems, if history is considered more seriously it could help policy makers
and citizens readjust expectations, illuminate the limits and prospects for public
policy, and identify ways to restore legitimacy. More realistic policies could be
worked out and the implications for legitimacy of actions taken or not taken
could be considered.

Appendix: Conceptual framework

The framework designed to support the historical policy analysis (HPA) of local government policy
and legitimacy presumes a broad postpositivist perspective (Bernstein, 1983; Torgerson, 1985; 1986;
Schram, 1993; deLeon, 1994; Fischer and Forester, 1987; Albaek, 1995; Fischer, 1995; 1998). To
obtain high validity in a historical inquiry there is a need to combine di¡erent methodologies.
Historical accounts and narratives must then be used in a complementary fashion, ¢rst and fore-
most because the materials available to each will be of a di¡erent nature and quality. Moreover,
restructuring historical patterns is basically an interpretive activity.
The process of legitimatization and the interplay of policy and legitimacy are explored within this
framework from a phenomenological, bottom-up approach. Historical and contemporary data are
examined thoroughly by integrating various methodologies. The policies under scrutiny are located
in relation to the problem situation and the socio-political context in which they are developed.
When social problems, public policy and legitimacy are viewed historically, the continuous change
in these phenomena will be brought to the fore.
The framework illustrates how the main concepts are related to each other. The framework
should not be expected to cover all aspects of a policy’s history or all legitimacy sources; rather it is
 273

tailored to gain knowledge of local problems, local government policies and legitimacy, and to
investigate how these phenomena are interrelated. The framework, illustrated in Figure 1, is tied
together with a working hypothesis, which brings together the di¡erent arguments investigated in
the HPA. It states that if policy is developed close to local problems (problem oriented) and
contributes to resolving the problems (problem e¡ective), it will contribute to legitimacy. In other
words public policy developed to deal with perceived problems and citizens’ needs is expected to
add legitimacy to the current policy and to the existing order. This source of legitimacy is referred to
as ‘the pragmatic problem-solving way to gain legitimacy.’ What governments do and how they act
is just as important as the established institutions (Deutsch, 1970; Wiberg, 1988; Held, 1989;
Rothstein, 1997). Generally, di¡erent sources of legitimacy can be expected to have more or less
validity at di¡erent periods of time (Weber, 1962; 1983) and ¢nding out what sources dominate at
di¡erent periods of time is an empirical question.
The framework illustrates how the HPA, step by step, deals with the basic concepts and their
interrelations. The assumptions behind the working hypothesis are probed (not illustrated in
Figure 1) in the case study. If public policy is problem oriented and problem e¡ective one can expect
to ¢nd expressions of support, otherwise expressions of distrust and discontent can be expected.
The method used for this is comparing expressions of legitimacy and illegitimacy with empirical
¢ndings of problem orientation and e¡ectiveness.
The basic concepts are elaborated on three interrelated analytical levels. The ¢rst (I) refers to the
level of perception, where ideas and strategies are formed, the second (II) to the level of action,
where policies are made and implemented, and the third (III) to an independent reality. The levels
are marked I^III in Figure 1. The framework is based on the assumption that a social world (reality)
exists independently of a single individual. This (neo)realistic ontological position is shared by
phenomenological theorist and policy analysts (e.g., Merleau-Ponty, 1964; Henry et al., 1998).
Analyzing public policy from a local-historical perspective involves all three levels illustrated in
the ¢gure. To the left, the three levels are conceptualized on a disaggregated or concrete level, and to
the right on an aggregated or societal level. The arrows illustrate the analytical steps taken in the
HPA and the italics indicate that the inquiry will pay attention to how problems and policies are
related to one another; that is, the problem orientation and problem e¡ectiveness will be probed.
Above the model an arrow indicates how the pragmatic problem-solving source of legitimacy is
thought to contribute to recreating legitimacy; if a policy is perceived as equitable this will add
legitimacy to the actual policy and the order. Finally, the historical dimension is illustrated with a
time axis at the bottom of the ¢gure.
The framework focuses on the following questions:

 How have local problems and policies evolved during di¡erent periods of time? What policies
have been implemented in the municipalities?
 Who de¢nes problems and policies during di¡erent periods of time?
 How has the policy discourse evolved and who de¢ned/de¢nes local problems and solutions?
 To what extent have municipalities developed problem-oriented policies during di¡erent peri-
ods of time? What is the e¡ectiveness of these policies?
 How has the power distribution changed between the state and municipality and what are the
implications of this for the interplay of public policy and legitimacy?
 Are expressions of legitimacy correlated to problem-oriented and problem-e¡ective policy?

Conceptualizing legitimacy, social problems and policy

How we de¢ne the concepts determines our understanding of these phenomena. The de¢nitions
also direct the searchlight and guide the data-collection. The dominant meaning of a word changes
and most concepts are ambiguous. For example the Romans used legitimacy to mean ‘lawful’ and
made a distinction between a power constituted by law and a robber or pirate (Sternberger,
1968:245). The medieval meaning of legitimacy is di¡erent. The word was applied to persons and
comprised an element of consent. The dominant meaning of legitimacy at the end of the 20th
274

century has changed to ‘equitable.’ But the term is still used to mean both ‘legal’ and ‘equitable.’
‘Policy’ and ‘democracy’ have rich, complex and changing meanings (Hanson, 1989; Parsons, 1995;
Hill, 1997). To grasp and trace real-world problems, policies and legitimacy in a historical inquiry
these concepts should be de¢ned as broadly as possible to permit the phenomena to appear di¡er-
ently at various periods of time.
Legitimacy refers to citizens’ support for a policy, order and regime. It is the equitable, not the
legal, meaning of the word which is scrutinized in this article. The legal meaning of legitimacy is
dealt with separately. Thus the concept is used in line with Deutsch’s (1970) and Wiberg’s (1988)
notion of legitimacy. Both disengage legitimacy from formal institutions and relate legitimacy more
to political actions or inactions.
Social problems are understood in this article as mobilized perceptions referring to certain
conditions in a society or an ‘independent reality.’ This postpositivist approach to social problems
is often referred to as ‘critical realism’ (Guba, 1980: p. 20). An independent reality can be perceived
di¡erently and needs to be analyzed critically; social problems are socially constructed and valid
knowledge must be created by a combination of methodologies.10
A policy problem refers to a perceived gap between existing and preferred states of a¡airs. An
actual policy problem is generally de¢ned in line with how governments view a policy problem. This
position is generally justi¢ed with reference to the constitution and the position of mandated actors
in a representative democracy. But in this HPA framework the de¢nition of the policy problem is
turned into an empirical question. For example, it implies that the power relations within the state
cannot be taken as given, that they must be problematized when exploring the interplay of public
policy and legitimacy.
Public policy refers to a line of action or inaction aiming to preserve or change conditions
perceived as collective problems or challenges.11 The concept of policy adopted here is broader
than most are familiar with; it is not related to goals or public programs. In a historical analysis
goals and programs are not well suited to identify a policy, because a signi¢cant number of policies
are goal- or program-free.
Problem-oriented policy is used to indicate policy developed close to perceived and observed
problems, and local problem orientation refers to policies developed close to local problems,
conditions and perceptions of problems. Problem e¡ectiveness refers to a policy that contributes to
resolving or reducing certain problems. E¡ectiveness is explicitly related to the extent policies
contribute to resolving the problems.

Scrutinizing problems and policies historically

One methodological challenge in an HPA is to ¢nd ways to follow and compare problems and
policies of a hundred years ago with contemporary problems and policies. This is a pre-condition
for identifying patterns of change. Comparisons based on social indicators can be one way of
unfolding patterns of change. The limitations of using social indicators are well known (Duncan,
1984), but this does not mean that indicators cannot be used. Instead of throwing indicators away,
they can be used critically. In a historical inquiry there is a need continuously to probe the ‘time and
space’ validity of indicators.
How can local problems be scrutinized for a period of a hundred years or more? This can be done
in two ways. First, by reconstructing time-series based on ‘problem-indicators.’ This could be a way
to identify patterns of change in observed problems. Univariate ARIMA-analysis and per capita
measures are suggested as methods to identify long-term patterns of change. Second, text and
discourse analysis could be used to grasp perceptual changes and social mobilization around
perceived problems, and to follow how the dominant policy discourse has evolved.
A priori it cannot be known how far an HPA could be elaborated during di¡erent periods of time.
Therefore, the material as such must be part of the inquiry. In this case a pre-study indicated that it
was possible to follow Swedish municipality policy at least along two lines during the past hundred
years, on the one hand through institutions (rules and programs, ¢xed capital such as buildings or
 275

Table 4. Guide for searching municipality policies in the HPA.

Institutions Actors

Programs, goals, rules, strategies I. Operating within established institutions

Fixed capital II. ‘Institutional entrepreneurs’
Human capital
Support (subsidies)
Organization

infrastructure, human capital indicated by number of civil servants, support or subsidies and di¡er-
ent forms of organization), and on the other hand through actors.12 There is a need to focus on both
actors and institutions in order to grasp the dynamic aspects of policy. Human capital is listed
under ‘institutions’ in Table 4, which might appear puzzling because human capital is also implicit
in the notion of an ‘actor.’ The reason for this is that there is a di¡erence between employees in a
public organization and the way this resource (human capital) is used. A certain (human) capital
might not be used to deal with the problems under scrutiny. Thus, human capital can be viewed as a
kind of institutionalized capital. It is an empirical question to ¢nd out to what extent this capital is
used to deal with the speci¢c problems. As time goes by human capital (and other institutions) can
depart from the problems it originally was intended to deal with and only weakly respond to current
problems. Consequently there is a need to pay attention to the process of institutionalization. If the
institutions are well suited to deal with the problems, the actors will be expected to contribute to
resolving the problems within the established institutions (category I-actors); if not, some actors
will try to change the institutions or create new institutions (‘institutional entrepreneurs’ or category
II-actors).
It is suggested that cost accounts in di¡erent policy ¢elds could be interpreted as aggregated
measures of various policies. Reconstructing time series of local policies, based on economic cost
indicators, is an intellectually challenging as well as a time consuming task. It involves interpreting
cost measures, ¢nding practical solutions to deal with o⁄cial statistics in continuous change, and
aggregating and splitting cost accounts at di¡erent periods of time. It includes adjusting the time-
series for in£ation. For this purpose a cost-living index has been reconstructed from three di¡erent
sources.13
Health policy is operationalized on the basis of 10 cost-headings, such as health and medical care
and water puri¢cation plant, whereas social malaise policy is operationalized on 38 social and
infrastructure cost headings. Basically social cost indicators could be interpreted as direct responses
to social malaise problems whereas infrastructure costs could be understood as mainly indirect
responses to the same problems. Further, building bridges, water plants, roads, etc., could directly
create jobs and indirectly contribute to local economic development.
The methods suggested for use in the HPA are time-series analysis (univariate ARIMA and
ARIMA intervention analysis), descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, distance analysis and
OLS regression analysis, network analysis, text and discourse analysis.

Acknowledgement

The author thanks Professor Abdul Khakee, Umeafi University, for useful com-
ments on the manuscript.
276

Notes

1. Within the ‘Advocacy Coalition Approach’ policy change is analyzed for periods of a decade or
more (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993). Schneider and Werle (1991) have extended the time-
perspective to one hundred years and in the ¢eld of telecommunication they show that present
policy networks and key-actors partly are determined by historical settings.
2. In contrast to dogmatic models, for example Karl Marx’s or di¡erent types of probability
models, ‘developmental constructs’ should be tentative and exploratory (Lasswell, 1971:
p. 67¡.).
3. Per capita measures are also used in di¡erent ways, but these are not reported in this article.
4. Number of death during the ¢rst 12 months/1000 born.
5. This times-series analysis identi¢es univariate Arima (Autoregressive Integrated Moving-
average) models. The ¢rst ¢gure indicates an autoregressive model (i.e. 1,0,0), the second an
integrated model (i.e 0,1,0) and the third a moving-average model (i.e. 0,0,1). All models are
constructed following Box-Jenkins steps and guidelines (McCleary and Hay, 1980) and pro-
cessed in SPSS (1993).
6. There is one exception: if 1960 is chosen as the ¢rst year in the time-series a trend model turns
out to be the best ¢tting model on an aggregated level (1960^1992).
7. The problem orientation was analyzed by correlation analysis based on time-series as well as on
lagged time-series, i.e., problem year 1900 was correlated with policy 1901, problem 1901 with
policy 1902 and so on.
8. The correlation between social costs and aid recipients loosened up in the following way: .80 in
the 1960s, .30 in the 1970s, no correlation in the 1980s.
9. The regional level has historically been weak in Sweden. The county councils have ¢rst and
foremost had responsibility for individual health and medical needs and only marginally have
dealt with the collective health and social malaise problems examined in the HPA.
10. There are di¡erent schools of thoughts on social problems (Schattschneider, 1960; Spector and
Kitsuse, 1977; Dery, 1984; Hogwood and Gunn, 1984; Harmon and Mayer, 1986; Fischer and
Forester, 1987; Fischer, 1993; Rochefort and Cobb, 1994; Parsons, 1995; Primm and Clark,
1996; Bacchi, 1999). One could distinguish between positivist, postpositivist and postmodern
approaches to social problems. According to positivist assumptions social problems are
viewed as social facts and are part of an objective reality. Social problems can be measured
and dealt with objectively. A postmodern approach to social problems shares the postpositivist
view (adopted in this article) that social problems are socially constructed and that knowledge
is time, place and context bound. Postmodernists, however, do not assume an independent
reality; the postmodern social world is subjectively constructed in all parts.
11. Policy is here used with the same connotation as Heclo (1972) and Hjern and Porter (1983).
12. The ¢ndings from the pre-study were used to facilitate the operationalization of, and search
for, municipality policy along the two lines listed in Table 4. This way of searching for
municipality policy illustrates how theory and practice must be used to fertilize one another in
an HPA.
13. A cost-living index is constructed from Budget-B in Myrdal’s index 1830^1913 (Myrdal, 1933),
living-costs index 1913^1949 and consumer-price index from 1993.

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