La satisfacción del cliente.

Table 12: Summary of selected empirical research on the impact of cohesion policy

PUBLICATION IMPACT FOUND METHOD USED CONCLUSION

Boldrin and Canova (2001): Inequality and convergence in Europe's regions: reconsidering European regional policies No convergence nor divergence found. Exception made for a couple of miracles and a few disasters; most regions are growing at a fairly uniform rate, irrespective of their initial conditions.

Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

If the true objective of regional economic policies is to foster economic growth in the poorer regions and promote convergence, then the policies adopted by the Community are not justifiable in the light of current economic knowledge and hard statistical evidence. Beugelsdijk and Eijffinger

(2005): The effectiveness of structural policy in the European Union: An empirical analysis for the EU‐15 in 1995–2001.

Positive GMM (Gaussian

Mixture Model)

Structural funds may indeed have had a positive impact, and poorer countries (like Greece) seem to have caught up with the richer countries.

Ezcurra and Rapún (2006): Manuel Regional Disparities and National Development Revisited: The Case of Western Europe Positive beyond a threshold of GDP per capita Semi-parametric technique based on the kernel regression estimator

implemented by Robinson (1988).

Public policies aimed at promoting overall growth in the economy as a whole will contribute to neither increasing nor decreasing territorial imbalances within the various countries considered.

Lopez-Rodriguez and Faina (2006): Objective 1 regions versus non- objective 1 regions. What does the Theil Index tell us?

Does not mention precisely EUCP. Convergence after 1987.

Generalized entropy index such as the Theil index

The results show that between 1982 and 1987 the income disparities between objective 1 regions and non- objective 1 regions have increased, while from 1987 onwards objective 1 regions catch up with the non- objective 1 regions.

Ederveen and al (2006): Fertile soil for structural funds?

A panel data analysis of

the conditional effectiveness of

None Three evaluation

methods are used: model simulation, case

studies and econometric

evaluation.

Building on a standard neoclassical growth framework, the authors find

that European support as such did not improve the

countries’ growth performance. However, the

PUBLICATION IMPACT FOUND METHOD USED CONCLUSION

European cohesion policy

authors find evidence that it enhances growth in countries with the ‘right’ institutions.

Becker, Egger, & Von Ehrlich (2013):

Too much of a good thing? On the growth effects of the EU’s regional policy

EU transfers enable faster growth in the recipient regions as intended, but the authors estimate that in 36% of the recipient regions the transfer intensity exceeds the aggregate efficiency maximizing level and in 18% of the regions a reduction of transfers would not even reduce their growth.

Generalized

propensity score estimation

The authors conclude that some reallocation of the funds across target regions would lead to higher aggregate growth in the EU and could generate even faster convergence than the current scheme does.

Fratesi and Perucca (2014) Territorial capital and the effectiveness of cohesion policies: an assessment for CEE regions

Regional policy is not so much effective per se but its impact depends on the type and amount of territorial capital possessed by the region. Regions more endowed with territorial capital appear to be more able to take advantage from the policy support of structural funds.

Cross-section

regressions using NUTS-3 level data

Agglomeration economies play a role in some infrastructural policies;

It is not the largest urban areas that take advantage from these investments but the intermediate ones; Rural areas, also don’t take advantage of the hard investments, which questions the whole role of

Structural Funds since these regions tend to be the poorest and less developed ones.

Crescenzi and Giua (2016):

The EU cohesion policy in context: Does a bottom- up approach work in all regions?

Positive, but stronger in richer regions (not really convergence then). EUCP interacts with CAP and other non- geographically targeted policies.

A policy augmented model of regional growth

Bottom-up approaches are not sufficient, and must be complemented by top-down approach.

Percoco (2016):

The impact of European cohesion policy in urban and rural regions

The impact of cohesion policy depends on the economic structure of regions. Regression discontinuity design with heterogeneous treatment

The higher the share of service sector activity, the lower the detected impact of

PUBLICATION IMPACT FOUND METHOD USED CONCLUSION

policy investing heavily in this sector

Surubaru (2016):

Administrative capacity or quality of political governance? EU cohesion policy in the new Europe, 2007–2013

Governance and domestic political factors may mediate the effects of redistributive policies, such as European cohesion policy

The paper relies on qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires with selected stakeholders

Taking stock of domestic political governance is essential to explaining the ability of new member states to manage European Union regional and cohesion policy.

Gagliardi and Percoco (2016):

The impact of European Cohesion policy in urban and rural regions

Cohesion policy enhances regional growth overall, but does so more significantly in the case of rural regions close to a city.

Regression

discontinuity design

Geographical characteristics influence the impact of Cohesion policy

Becker, Egger and von Ehrlich (2018): Effects of EU Regional Policy: 1989- 2013

The effects of losing Objective 1 status on economic growth are negative, and the earlier positive effects on growth in the period(s) of Objective 1 treatment more or less undone.

Fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD) in a two-stage least-squares

approach

Regional policy has a positive, but short-lived, effect on growth; the loss of eligibility in fact comes with a negative effect that offsets previous positive effects.