**4. Conclusions**

This study provides us with contrasts between different municipalities that allow us to reach conclusions on the current situation in northern, central, and southern Chile. It also allows us to find and tear down certain prejudices, such as the centralization of the country, showing the variables that are influential to a greater

<sup>1</sup> Breusch-Godfrey F Test: 2.82; P-value = < 0.1.

<sup>2</sup> Jarque-Bera Test: 4.4654; P-value = < 0.1.

<sup>3</sup> White Test F-statistic: 27.63; P-value = < 0.1.

degree, according to our econometric model, and raises new aspects to consider in municipal management.

According to the literature reviewed, there are references that indicate that the quality of life can be interpreted from economic growth, which in various studies is considered a factor in determining the efficiency of city councils. The authors also indicate that the quality of life must be decoded by development, from a necessary environmental and social efficiency. For this, he points out [39] it is important to consider the factors that allow a "greening" of the economy, but also a closer relationship with politics. In this way, a set of criteria oriented to equity and distribution can be determined, which would reduce interterritorial imbalances, considered elements of high entropy. In sum, for a better quality of life for the citizens of a territory in which the city council manages resources, social variables, such as domestic violence in a given commune, should be considered, along with economic variables such as the Municipal Common Fund (FCM) and the Permanent Income from own source (IPP).

Therefore, although any variable, from economic matters to population density, can increase the efficiency of city councils, when linked closer to the quality of life of the inhabitants belonging to a certain commune, this factor tends to slightly decrease that efficiency, counteracting to some level what was raised by the literature. Indeed [37] rectifies the fact that the changes produced through economic development and well-being or the structural transformation in human development, in a study on the quality of life and how the environment and, ultimately, the changes that occur in it, can contribute positively or negatively in each individual, that is, how the administration and management of resources are implemented. This contributes to the efficiency of city councils in Chile, which in turn affects the quality of life of the inhabitants in each of the communes under study, concluding that, according to the data, findings and the existing literature, both factors mentioned are very closely related.

Regarding the assumptions made, it can be concluded that they are acceptable. In other words, there are better indexes in the central zone of Chile and the rates improve when advancing from North to South of the country, according to what is observed in the graphs and as predicted by the model.

Based on this study, it was concluded that the characteristics of the people who inhabit the communes cannot be excluded from this type of analysis, due to the cultural transformations and political demands that are taking place in countries like Chile. The efficiency levels of city councils cannot be limited by the information available only on a group of economic factors, but must integrate other aspects of social sensitivity.

The management of the social and economic crisis that the pandemic situation has generated, needs to integrate the reality of the territories, which is urgently demanded in Chile by civil society itself, which perceives imbalances in the responses provided by city councils. If the quality of life of individuals, as well as their characteristics, were taken into account, this would provide a more integrated and real result regarding the efficiency of city councils in Chile and their administration of resources. Therefore, based on the variables that make up the final model of this research, it can be shown that economic factors, typical of the management of resources that the network of city councils carries out throughout the country, as well as factors that characterize the population, are both a greater concern of those determinants that influence the quality of life of the inhabitants and their real impact on efficiency.

The results described above, obtained through econometrics and interdisciplinary dialog, can contribute towards the design and improvement of politicaladministrative models being demanded by the Chilean population, insofar as

**281**

**Author details**

and Matías Guajardo

*Efficiency of the City Councils Using Cross-Sectional Model: Challenges in Times of Change…*

decentralizing power and managing the crises that are currently creating tension and polarization, the likes of which the country has not experienced for decades.

Claudio Elórtegui Gómez and Hanns de la Fuente-Mella are supported by Grant NUCLEO DE INVESTIGACION EN DATA ANALYTICS/PUCV

Claudio Elórtegui-Gómez, Hanns de la Fuente-Mella\*, Mauricio Alvarado

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

\*Address all correspondence to: hanns.delafuente@pucv.cl

provided the original work is properly cited.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93655*

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

**Acknowledgements**

VRIEA/039.432/2020.

**Conflict of interest**

*Efficiency of the City Councils Using Cross-Sectional Model: Challenges in Times of Change… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93655*

decentralizing power and managing the crises that are currently creating tension and polarization, the likes of which the country has not experienced for decades.
