{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T13:20:28Z","timestamp":1781184028568,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,16]],"date-time":"2021-07-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Economies"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The present study demonstrates the possibilities for assessment of the financial autonomy of rural municipalities using the TOPSIS method. The study aimed to design and empirically verify the model for assessment of the financial autonomy of rural municipalities. As a result of the empirical study, an integrated system for assessment of the financial autonomy of rural municipalities was designed. The applicability of the TOPSIS method is demonstrated by the assessment of the financial autonomy of rural municipalities performed for two regions of Lithuania in the period 2009\u20132019. The empirical study showed that medium-low level of financial autonomy was characteristic of all the rural municipalities in the selected regions. On one hand, the findings suggested the presence of \u201cconvenient dependence\u201d of the rural municipalities on the centralised allocation. On the other hand, they signalled the lack of the incentives for the rural municipalities to make use of the capacities and create sustainable, stable economic and social prospects.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/economies9030105","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,18]],"date-time":"2021-07-18T21:18:52Z","timestamp":1626643132000},"page":"105","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Assessment of the Financial Autonomy of Rural Municipalities"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1432-7971","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Astrida","family":"Miceikien\u0117","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Bioeconomy Development, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio str. 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laima","family":"Skauron\u0117","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Bioeconomy Development, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio str. 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9556-4121","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ri\u010dardas","family":"Krik\u0161tolaitis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio str. 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"31","article-title":"A survey on multi criteria decision making methods and its applications","volume":"1","author":"Aruldoss","year":"2013","journal-title":"American Journal of Information Systems"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"50","article-title":"Kaimo vietov\u0117s poky\u010di\u0173 valdymas pagal princip\u0105 \u201ci\u0161 apa\u010dios \u012f vir\u0161\u0173\u201d","volume":"2","year":"2008","journal-title":"Ekonomika ir Vadyba: Aktualijos ir Perspektyvos"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Beer-T\u00f3th, Krisztina (2009). Local Financial Autonomy in Theory and Practice. 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