The study performs an ex-post evaluation of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) during the 2014-2022 implementation period, assessing its impact on poverty across EU regions. The study examines six key poverty measures, including population at risk of poverty or social...

This paper presents a macroeconomic evaluation of the impact of the Horizon 2020 funds, carried out using the spatial dynamic general equilibrium model RHOMOLO. The policy disbursement data used to feed the model relate to the actual use of the funds over the period 2014-2021, so this is...

Quantitative indicators at the local level play an increasingly important role in the formulation and evaluation of regional policies. Regional statistical indicators are available from several sources, but comparability of their time-series is often affected by breaks caused by boundary changes...

The regularity and legality of EU spending, i.e. the conformity of incurred expenditures with relevant legislation, is an important measure of efficiency. It is also a key pre-condition for the effectiveness of EU funds. The present paper aims to understand the main determinants of irregular...

Using data from the execution of 2014-2020 cohesion policy, the paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the speed of absorption capacity of European funds by introducing novel metrics. It evaluates absorption capacity considering time performance and distinguishing between national and regional...

The paper investigates cohesion policy programmes' ability to define accurate policy outputs, in the form of targets. More specifically, the analysis explores the extent to which targets set by ERDF programmes to assess their performance are revised over time and seeks to identify specific...

The paper presents a critical assessment of EU Cohesion Policy's rationale and specific features through the lenses of theories loosely referred to as "new industrial policy". Theoretical work in this areas is important in order to clarify the role of Cohesion Policy in the context of the...

This paper develops a methodology to define functional rural areas in the EU. It seeks feedback on the method and the results. Functional rural areas cover all the territory outside functional urban areas. They are constructed in three steps. First, we define rural centres: they are the largest...

In the attempt to boost innovation, policy-makers have enacted a myriad of programs targeting innovative start-ups in recent years. Empirical evidence on these initiatives has almost exclusively focused on national-level programs, overlooking those implemented at the local level. This paper...

This paper provides quantitative evidence on the geography of regional readiness to tackle climate change using data from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain. Following Cappellano et al. (2022), we estimate a composite indicator that reports the situation of regions in these countries...