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Spatial Discontinuity for the Impact Assessment of the EU Regional Policy. The Case of Italian Objective 1 Regions

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  • Mara Giua

Abstract

The capacity of the Regional Policy of the European Union (EU) to reduce the gap between the core and the periphery of the Union is still controversial. This paper revisits the question by exploiting treatment effect methods with a spatial approach never previ ously applied to the analysis of this policy. The spatial discontinuity represented by the administrative boundaries between‘Objective 1’ and ‘non-Objective 1’ regions makes it possible to estimate the causal impact of the EU Regional Policy on Italian ‘Objective 1’ regions where the EU has addressed a large amount of resources over the past decades. By focusing on the sub-sample of municipalities contiguous to the ‘policy-change boundary ’and by matching them according to the segment of the boundary of which they belong, the ‘Spatial RDD' model shows that the EU Regional Policy produced a positive impact on employment levels. The positive impact is concentrated in a specific set of economic sectors directly relevant to the policy action. In addition, there is no evidence of any displacement of resources away from other non-treated regions.

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  • Mara Giua, 2014. "Spatial Discontinuity for the Impact Assessment of the EU Regional Policy. The Case of Italian Objective 1 Regions," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0197, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    • Handle: RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0197
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mauro Caselli & Andrea Fracasso & Sergio Scicchitano, 2020. "From the lockdown to the new normal: An analysis of the limitations to individual mobility in Italy following the Covid-19 crisis," Discussion Paper series in Regional Science & Economic Geography 2020-07, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences, revised Oct 2020.
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    4. Gianluigi Coppola & Sergio Destefanis & Giorgia Marinuzzi & Walter Tortorella, 2021. "Regional policies and sectoral outputs in the Italian regions. A multi-input multi-output counterfactual approach," Discussion Paper series in Regional Science & Economic Geography 2021-08, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences, revised May 2021.
    5. Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Di Cotaldo & Mara Guia, 2019. "It’s not about the money! EU funds, local opportunities, and the Brexit vote," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 149, European Institute, LSE.
    6. Maximilian v. Ehrlich & Henry G. Overman, 2020. "Place-Based Policies and Spatial Disparities across European Cities," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 128-149, Summer.
    7. Lukasz Pietak, 2021. "Structural Funds and Convergence in Poland," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 3-37, March.
    8. Albanese, Giuseppe & Ciani, Emanuele & de Blasio, Guido, 2021. "Anything new in town? The local effects of urban regeneration policies in Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Riccardo Crescenzi & Mara Giua, 2018. "One or Many Cohesion Policies of the European Union? On the Diverging Impacts of Cohesion Policy across Member States," SERC Discussion Papers 0230, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Zoltán Bakucs & Imre Fertő & Zsófia Benedek, 2019. "Success or Waste of Taxpayer Money? Impact Assessment of Rural Development Programs in Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-23, April.
    11. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Di Cataldo, Marco & Giua, Mara, 2020. "It’s not about the money. EU funds, local opportunities, and Euroscepticism," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Giuseppe Albanese & Guido de Blasio & Andrea Locatelli, 2019. "Place-based Policy and Local TFP," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1253, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Marco Di Cataldo, 2015. "The long-term impact of Objective 1 funding on unemployment and labour market disparities: Evidence from the UK," ERSA conference papers ersa15p104, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Javier Castaño & Maria Blanco & Pilar Martinez, 2019. "Reviewing Counterfactual Analyses to Assess Impacts of EU Rural Development Programmes: What Lessons Can Be Learned from the 2007–2013 Ex-Post Evaluations?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, February.
    15. Emanuele Ciani & Guido de Blasio, 2015. "European structural funds during the crisis: evidence from Southern Italy," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, December.
    16. Barone, Guglielmo & David, Francesco & de Blasio, Guido, 2016. "Boulevard of broken dreams. The end of EU funding (1997: Abruzzi, Italy)," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 31-38.
    17. Marco Di Cataldo, 2016. "Gaining and losing EU Objective 1 funds: Regional development in Britain and the prospect of Brexit," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 120, European Institute, LSE.
    18. Eirini Aivazidou & Giovanni Cunico & Edoardo Mollona, 2020. "Beyond the EU Structural Funds’ Absorption Rate: How Do Regions Really Perform?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-24, July.
    19. Davide Fiaschi & Andrea Mario Lavezzi & Angela Parenti, 2018. "Does EU cohesion policy work? Theory and evidence," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 386-423, March.
    20. Joanie Willett & Rebecca Tidy & Garry Tregidga & Philip Passmore, 2019. "Why did Cornwall vote for Brexit? Assessing the implications for EU structural funding programmes," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(8), pages 1343-1360, December.
    21. Marcos Diaz, 2020. "Three essays on development economics : public policies and geographical discontinuities," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/6rl0q151go8, Sciences Po.

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    Keywords

    Regional Policy of the European Union; treatment effect methods; policy evaluation; regions; European Union; RDD;
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