Structural funds and regional growth: conditions for improving efficiency

Structural Funds’ effectiveness for cohesion promotion within the European Union has been frequently questioned. Given the challenges brought about by recent enlargements to the Central and Eastern Europe and the discussion about limits on EU budget, we analyse the role of EU transfers for growth on a panel of 138 regions in the period 1995-2009. Our main findings are that: (i) Funds effects are not instantaneous; (ii) the effects of Funds over time are intimately related to the level of human capital in the region.