The Impact of Structural Funds Policy on European Regions' Growth : A Theoretical and Empirical Approach

In this paper, I try to estimate the impact of Structural Funds on the growth rates of Objective 1 European regions during the two first programming periods (1989-2000). I develop a "hybrid" model of economic growth that partially endogenizes the rate of technical progress and I test its main implications following a panel data approach. The results suggest that Structural Funds have positively influenced the growth process of Objective 1 regions, although their impact has been stronger during the first programming period than the second. The same quantitative difference between the two programming periods appears in the estimated rates of beta-convergence and the catching-up effect.