IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/kyklos/v61y2008i1p3-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does Sub‐National Autonomy Affect the Effectiveness of Structural Funds?

Author

Listed:
  • Cornelius Bähr

Abstract

One of the European Union's explicitly formulated goals is reducing the lags in development and narrowing the gaps in income between its member states and regions. In order to attain these goals, the Union's regional policy employs a system of vertical conditional grants known as the Structural Funds. Various attempts have been made to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy in promoting convergence. This paper adds to the existing literature in focusing the investigation on the role of the member states' federal structure. A short discussion drawing mainly on the theory of fiscal federalism provides the basis for an empirical model. Using a sample of 13 European countries in the period from 1975–1995 we estimate the effect varying decentralization among the member states has on the conditional effectiveness of Structural Funds expenditure. The results suggest that Structural Funds are more effective in promoting growth when the states exhibit a higher degree of decentralization.

Suggested Citation

  • Cornelius Bähr, 2008. "How does Sub‐National Autonomy Affect the Effectiveness of Structural Funds?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 3-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:61:y:2008:i:1:p:3-18
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2008.00389.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.2008.00389.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6435.2008.00389.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.
    2. Robert Fenge & Matthias Wrede, 2004. "EU Regional Policy: Vertical Fiscal Externalities and Matching Grants," CESifo Working Paper Series 1146, CESifo.
    3. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    4. Sjef Ederveen & Henri L.F. de Groot & Richard Nahuis, 2006. "Fertile Soil for Structural Funds?A Panel Data Analysis of the Conditional Effectiveness of European Cohesion Policy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 17-42, February.
    5. Robert J. Barro & Paul Romer, 1993. "Economic Growth (1992)," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number barr93-1.
    6. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    7. Stegarescu, Dan, 2004. "Public Sector Decentralization: Measurement Concepts and Recent International Trends," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-74, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Daniel Kaufmann & Aart Kraay & Massimo Mastruzzi, 2003. "Governance Matters III: Governance Indicators for 1996-2002," Macroeconomics 0308006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. World Bank, 2000. "World Development Indicators 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13828.
    10. Stefania BUSSOLETTI & Roberto ESPOSTI, 2004. "Regional Convergence, Structural Funds and the Role of Agricolture in the EU. A Panel-Data Approach," Working Papers 220, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    11. Angel de la Fuente, 2002. "Does cohesion policy work?," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 563.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    12. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 22, pages 384-414, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2003. "Government matters III : governance indicators for 1996-2002," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3106, The World Bank.
    14. Sjed Ederveen & Joeri Gorter & Ruud de Mooij & Richard Nahuis, 2003. "Funds and Games: The Economics of European Cohesion Policy," Occasional Papers 03, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes.
    15. Stegarescu, Dan, 2005. "Costs, Preferences, and Institutions: An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Government Decentralization," ZEW Discussion Papers 05-39, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Nazrul Islam, 2003. "What have We Learnt from the Convergence Debate?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 309-362, July.
    17. Schürmann, Carsten & Talaat, Ahmed, 2002. "The European peripherality index," ERSA conference papers ersa02p224, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Rafael Doménech & Antonio Maudes & Juan Varela, 2000. "Fiscal flows in Europe: The redistributive effects of the EU budget," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 136(4), pages 631-656, December.
    19. Nazrul Islam, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-1170.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cornelius Bähr & Ulrike Stierle‐von Schütz & Matthias Wrede, 2007. "Dezentralisierung in den EU‐Staaten und räumliche Verteilung wirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 110-129, March.
    2. Jürgen Von Hagen, 2007. "Institutionelle Gestaltung föderaler Systeme: Theorie und Empirie," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 109-109, March.
    3. Tobias Hagen & Philipp Mohl, 2011. "Econometric Evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy: A Survey," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Jonathan Eberle & Thomas Brenner, 2016. "More bucks, more growth, more justice? The effects of regional structural funds on regional economic growth and convergence in Germany," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2016-01, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    5. Mohl, P. & Hagen, T., 2010. "Do EU structural funds promote regional growth? New evidence from various panel data approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 353-365, September.
    6. Sjef Ederveen & Henri L.F. de Groot & Richard Nahuis, 2002. "Fertile Soil for Structural Funds?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-096/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Mohl, Philipp & Hagen, Tobias, 2008. "Does EU Cohesion Policy Promote Growth? Evidence from Regional Data and Alternative Econometric Approaches," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-086, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Sjef Ederveen & Henri L.F. de Groot & Richard Nahuis, 2006. "Fertile Soil for Structural Funds?A Panel Data Analysis of the Conditional Effectiveness of European Cohesion Policy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 17-42, February.
    9. Sandy Dall'erba & Julie Le Gallo, 2008. "Regional convergence and the impact of European structural funds over 1989–1999: A spatial econometric analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 219-244, June.
    10. Beine, Michel & Docquier, Frédéric & Oden-Defoort, Cecily, 2011. "A Panel Data Analysis of the Brain Gain," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 523-532, April.
    11. Mason, Geoff & O'Leary, Brigid & Vecchi, Michela, 2012. "Certified and uncertified skills and productivity growth performance: Cross-country evidence at industry level," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 351-360.
    12. Jorge Martínez Vázquez & Robert M. McNab, 2006. "Fiscal decentralization, macrostability and growth," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 179(4), pages 25-49, September.
    13. Enrico Fabrizi & Gianni Guastella & Stefano Marta & Francesco Timpano, 2016. "Determinants of Intra-Distribution Dynamics in European Regions: An Empirical Assessment of the Role of Structural Intervention," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 107(5), pages 522-539, December.
    14. Castro, Vitor, 2011. "The impact of the European Union fiscal rules on economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 313-326, June.
    15. Ang, James B. & Madsen, Jakob B. & Rabiul Islam, Md., 2011. "The effects of human capital composition on technological convergence," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 465-476, September.
    16. Hossein Jalilian & Colin Kirkpatrick, 2005. "Does Financial Development Contribute to Poverty Reduction?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 636-656.
    17. repec:zbw:rwidps:0030 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Massimiliano Affinito, 2011. "Convergence clubs, the euro-area rank and the relationship between banking and real convergence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 809, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    20. Naima Chrid & Sami Saafi & Mohamed Chakroun, 2021. "Export Upgrading and Economic Growth: a Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 811-841, June.
    21. ?gel de la Fuente, "undated". "Convergence Across Countries And Regions: Theory And Empirics," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 447.00, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:61:y:2008:i:1:p:3-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0023-5962 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.