In this paper, we empirically test the effects of the EU's "cohesion policy" on the performance of 273,500 European manufacturing firms after combining regional policy data at NUTS 2 level with firm-level data. In a framework of heterogeneous firms and different absorptive capacity of regions,...

European Union provides financial support to the Member States through various financial tools currently from European Structural and Investment Funds that represent the main instrument of EU Cohesion Policy to sustain territorial development, to increase competitiveness and to eliminate...

For Romania, 2015 represents the year in which new programming documents are enacted, among which the Regional Operational Programme is the one that focusses on the harmonious development of the regions in terms of GDP/inhabitant and number of new jobs created. During the 2007-2013 period, 19%...

Since the year 2000, innovation and the path towards a knowledge-based economy have become prominent concepts in the European policy sphere. Although fostered by the goal of the innovationoriented Lisbon Strategy, it remains questionable in how far the situation of being the most competitive...

The extension of the European Union with the last two “waves†of new members in 2004 and later in 2007 brought new opportunities for the countries in Eastern Europe, especially those linked with the usage of European funding to support public or private investments. It is obvious that...

Since the year 2000, innovation and the path towards a “knowledge-based” economy have become prominent concepts in the European policy sphere. Although fostered by the goal of the innovationoriented Lisbon Strategy, it remains questionable in how far the situation of being the “most...

This paper analyzes the Romanian absorption capacity of the funds allocated through the REGIO programme, which is part of ERDF programme. Within the paper are presented the concept of absorption capacity and several opinions regarding its main composing elements. Also the Regio programme, its...

More than one third of the European Union's total budget is spent on socalled Cohesion Policy via the structural funds. Its main purpose is to promote the development of the EU and to support convergence between the levels of development of the various European regions. Investigating the impact...

This paper analyses the growth effects of EU structural funds using a new panel dataset of 124 NUTS-1 / NUTS-2 regions over the time period 1995-2005. We extend the current literature with regard to at least three aspects: First of all, we extend the time period of investigation, using...

The necessity of a regional development policy at the nowadays’ European Union level has become vital since the beginning of the enlargement process in 1973 when to those six founding states (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands) subjoined Great Britain, Ireland and...

The development towards a 'Europe of the Regions' is accompanied by a complex system of cooperation and interdependence between the different levels of policy-making. In this article, we ask how European integration affects the party composition of regional governments. We argue that the...