Cohesion Policy (CP) has been a central economic policy tool of the EU for several decades. In the current context of fundamental challenges facing the EU, and ahead of the next seven-year budgetary cycle, Europe has the opportunity to rethink and reform the EU budget and CP in particular. This...

By international comparison as well as compared to other EU policies, the EU‘s Cohesion Policy (CP) evaluation system is far developed and institutionalized. This paper analyses the remaining gaps and shortcomings in the CP evaluation system against principles established by the OECD and...

The EU's Cohesion Policy (CP) intends to promote European economic, social, and territorial cohesion. The policy occupies about a third of the EU budget and it is the most evaluated of all EU policies. With the support of the German Ministry of Finance, two in-depth ZEW research papers by...

Forderungen nach Lockerungen der Schuldenbremse haben seit dem Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zum zweiten Nachtragshaushalt 2021 Auftrieb erhalten. Oft wird argumentiert, dass die Schuldenbremse wichtige Zukunftsinvestitionen behindere und eine ambitionierte Investitionspolitik mehr...

Independent and high-quality evaluations of government policies are an important input for designing evidence-based policy. Lack of incentives and institutions to write such evaluations, on the other hand, carry the risk of turning the system into a costly beauty contest. We study one of the...

Mit der Vergabeentscheidung zur "Erstellung eines Konzepts zur Einführung einer ziel- und wirkungsorientierten Haushaltsführung" (zwoH) folgte das Bundesministerium der Finanzen 2022 einem wichtigen Auftrag aus dem aktuellen Koalitionsvertrag. Die vielfältigen und wachsenden aktuellen...

Since the start of EMU national fiscal policy in the Eurozone can be conducted almost without payingany attention to consequences for the exchange rate. This might lower fiscal discipline. Offsetting forcescould result from increasing capital mobility and openness within EMU which can be...