Going NUTS: The effect of EU Structural Funds on regional performance

Sascha O. Becker (), Peter H. Egger () and Maximilian von Ehrlich

Journal of Public Economics, 2010, vol. 94, issue 9-10, pages 578-590

Abstract: The European Union (EU) provides grants to disadvantaged regions of member states to allow them to catch up with the EU average. Under the Objective 1 scheme, NUTS2 regions with a per capita GDP level below 75% of the EU average qualify for structural funds transfers from the central EU budget. This rule gives rise to a regression-discontinuity design that exploits the discrete jump in the probability of EU transfer receipt at the 75% threshold for identification of causal effects of Objective 1 treatment on outcome such as economic growth of EU regions. We find positive per capita GDP growth effects of Objective 1 transfers, but no employment growth effects.

Keywords: Structural; funds; Regional; growth; Regression-discontinuity; design; Quasi-randomized; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Working Paper: Going NUTS: The Effect of EU Structural Funds on Regional Performance (2008)
Working Paper: Going NUTS: The Effect of EU Structural Funds on Regional Performance (2008)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:94:y:2010:i:9-10:p:578-590

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