Over the last two decades, many municipalities in Finland have attempted to cut costs by closing small schools. In particular, rural schools with low enrolment have been the target of these savings. The main argument has been that out-migration and depopulation require adjustments to public infrastructure. This continuing tendency has raised many concerns about the effect of school closures on rural development, and remains a controversial issue in public debate. This paper examines the impacts of school closures on the population development of local communities using DID regression modelling combined with matching methods, focusing on the years 2010–2018. The results indicate that in Finland after school closure, the population of the surrounding community decreased more than before school closure. The increasing depopulation after a school closure means that school closures do not just raise questions about the individual school or the municipal school network, but more broadly about the vitality of the municipality and its development.

中文翻译：

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小学关闭和人口发展——学校活力是否是对（农村）社区吸引力的投资？

在过去的二十年中，芬兰的许多城市试图通过关闭小型学校来削减成本。特别是，入学率低的农村学校一直是这些节省的目标。主要论点是，人口外流和人口减少需要对公共基础设施进行调整。这种持续的趋势引起了人们对学校停课对农村发展影响的许多担忧，并且仍然是公众辩论中的一个有争议的问题。本文采用DID回归模型结合匹配方法考察学校停课对当地社区人口发展的影响，重点研究2010-2018年。结果表明，在芬兰，学校停课后，周边社区的人口比学校停课前减少更多。学校关闭后人口不断减少意味着学校关闭不仅引发了对个别学校或市学校网络的质疑，而且更广泛地引发了对市政府活力及其发展的质疑。