Assessing the Role of Government Effectiveness Across Socio-Economic, Fiscal and Migration Dimensions in the EU

Variations in government effectiveness across EU Member States are reflected in significant differences in socio-economic, fiscal and migration outcomes, which are rarely analysed within a single integrated framework. The analysis combines a structured bibliometric review with an empirical investigation based on EU-27 panel data covering the period 2015–2024, using co-occurrence and co-citation networks generated with VOSviewer to anchor the analytical framework in the literature. Government effectiveness, as measured by the Worldwide Governance Indicators, is analysed in relation to the risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE), GDP per capita, employment, social expenditure and migration dynamics. The results show that higher levels of institutional effectiveness are consistently associated with reduced social vulnerability, improved labour market performance and higher income levels in Member States. In contrast, the relationship with migration appears weaker and less robust across different econometric specifications. The interaction between government effectiveness and social spending also suggests that higher institutional quality can enhance the effectiveness of social policies in reducing vulnerability. Overall, the findings highlight the role of institutional quality as a conditioning factor of socio-economic outcomes, while indicating that the estimated relationships should be interpreted as conditional associations rather than strict causal effects.