Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/257104 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Economies [ISSN:] 2227-7099 [Volume:] 8 [Issue:] 3 [Article No.:] 55 [Publisher:] MDPI [Place:] Basel [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 1-24
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
Although the EU structural funds aim to alleviate disparities through supporting regional development, their impact on local economies and societies is considered as uneven. As existing studies explore the absorption rate of the EU share of contribution as a point-in-time indicator at the end of the policy cycle, evidence about regional co-finance and the factors dynamically affecting absorption performance is lacking. To that end, this paper aims to provide a new longitudinal investigation of the absorption time series and develop an original indicator, supported by a statistical error analysis, for offering a transparent view of the total funds' absorption. The analysis highlights that undesired regional strategies due to low administrative capacity may increase the absorption rate, though without supporting regional growth. The proposed approach could further facilitate the equitable allocation of political accountability regarding the structural funds' absorption to the EU and the regions. Overall, it is anticipated that this research will support the EU in monitoring actual regional performance for prompting local managing authorities to improve their administrative capacity.
Subjects: 
structural funds
absorption rate
regional performance
European Union
longitudinal analysis
statistical error analysis
JEL: 
H72
O52
R58
Y10
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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