Comparing Impact Evaluation Evidence of EU and Local Development Policies with New Urban Agenda Themes: The Agri Valley Case in Basilicata (Italy)

Piergiuseppe Pontrandolfi and Priscilla Sofia Dastoli
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Piergiuseppe Pontrandolfi: Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures, Environment, and Cultural Heritage (DICEM), University of Basilicata, 75100 Matera, Italy
Priscilla Sofia Dastoli: Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures, Environment, and Cultural Heritage (DICEM), University of Basilicata, 75100 Matera, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: The European Union’s Cohesion Policy is the most important structural policy in terms of financial commitment, geographical size and time frame, aimed at redistributing wealth between regions and countries, to stimulate growth in areas whose development is lagging behind. The reach of the investments prompted the EU Commission to promote an impact evaluation of the European Structural Funds (SF); however, the impact evaluation of EU programs is almost neglected in the Italian regions. This paper is based on the results developed within the RI.P.R.O.VA.RE project and is aimed at defining an impact evaluation of EU SF and other regional funds, based on evidence derived from the analysis of a specific case study in the Agri Valley area (Basilicata, Italy). To develop the impact evaluation process, the euro amounts of all the individual policies organized according to the themes of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the impact indicators and the trend for the municipalities are considered together, in order to obtain an overall trend for the entire case study area. An important result is achieved above all in the methodological approach to impact evaluation: the municipal territorial scale is taken into account; the maps illustrate the use of resources; regardless of the type of funding source since there is a comparison between the priority axes of the funds with the NUA issues; and indicators are developed with open data available at a national level. This experiment makes it possible to detect that, even in the face of significant investments, some substantial aspects that are part of the policy objectives remain unchanged or even worsen.

Keywords: impact evaluation; European policies; New Urban Agenda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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