The Importance of EU Cohesion Policy for Economic Growth and Convergence

Maximilian von Ehrlich

Diskussionsschriften from Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED

Abstract: This chapter discusses factors that contributed to different economic dynamics across European regions and the prevailing disparities. The impact of EU Cohesion Policy in reducing disparities is studied based on the empirical evidence on the effects of EU regional policy. With more than thirty years of experience, several important conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness and efficiency of place-based transfers in Europe. While EU regional policy has not completely countered market-driven processes that lead to regional disparities, it appears to have modestly alleviated them. To enhance the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy, this chapter advocates for an improved policy design and a shift in emphasis towards local institutions and governments in recipient regions, emphasizing that merely increasing the volume of transfers cannot compensate for these improvements.

Keywords: EU Structural Policy; Place-based policies; regional inequality; economic geography. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 F20 H20 R10 R50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eur, nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://repec.vwiit.ch/cred/CREDResearchPaper46.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper46

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Diskussionsschriften from Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Franz Koelliker ().