Municipalities: a review of economic theoretical and methodological approaches to the concept

The article is devoted to the systematization of existing approaches to the concept of "municipal formation" and the disclosure of its essence from an economic point of view. The authors analyzed the interpretations of the concept of "municipal formation", put forward by domestic researchers-economists. The result of the study is a theoretical generalization of five approaches: systemic, reproductive, object-subjective, socio-economic and complex in determining the essence of the concept of a municipality. The purpose of the study is to systematize and highlight economic theoretical and methodological approaches in determining the essence of the concept of "municipal formation". The study used general scientific methods: analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of analogy and comparison.