scholarly journals The Impact of EU Structural Funds on Regional Disparities within Member States

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas P Kyriacou ◽  
Oriol Roca-Sagalés
e-Finanse ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Murzyn

AbstractThe aim of this paper is twofold. First, the smart growth concept is examined with a focus on challenges associated with applying this concept in the less developed regions. Second, the impact of EU structural funds on smart growth in Poland is analyzed at the regional level with a view to contributing to the debate on public intervention in this area. The research questions are as follows: “Is the concept of smart growth, as postulated by the European Union, well suited to the less developed regions?” and “Whether and to what extent do EU funds contribute to achieving smart growth in Poland?”Smart growth has accelerated after 2007, which could suggest a significant impact of EU structural funds, whose allocation to measures supporting innovative activity rose markedly after 2007. However, among the various factors influencing regional development processes, the impact of structural funds was not as strong as might be expected, which was confirmed by further analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-110
Author(s):  
Anna Lewandowska ◽  
Yuriy Bilan ◽  
Grzegorz Mentel

This article examines financial support (especially EU Structural Funds as the main tool of cohesion policy) for investments as a lever for the development of SME innovativeness in Poland. The European Commission strongly stresses the importance of their cohesion policy and support for SMEs. European enterprises have suffered significantly from the credit crunch, and the situation could worsen as banks engage in restructuring to eliminate impaired assets from their balance sheets. Supporting SMEs and promoting entrepreneurship is essential for economic development and competitiveness, especially in less developed regions. The main aim of this study is to establish the impact of financial support for investments, especially from EU Structural Funds, on SME competitiveness in Poland. We have analyzed empirically the data drawn from CATI carried out among 805 firms. We have learned how SMEs assess the financial support from different sources along with the resulting impact on the competitiveness of SMEs. The main statistical test for relationships and dependencies was the chi-square independence test and Cramer’s V. The results of our research show that SMEs have not used financial support efficiently. Moreover, micro-enterprises were shown to be the least effective after receiving financial support from EU funds. This support often has a demand-driven effect, but it does not improve firm competitiveness.


2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
W. Heijman ◽  
T. Koch

The article describes a model to predict the allocation of the EU Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund over the EU member states. By comparing the predicted allocation with the real allocation, it is possible to indicate which member states receive more and which countries receive less than the predicted share. The variables determining the predicted allocation are the GDP per capita and the size of the population.


Author(s):  
Anita Matisone ◽  
Natalja Lace

This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of EU structural funds on the development of a self-sustainable venture capital (VC) market in Latvia from the perspective of VC fund managers. The study had two objectives. The first was to assess the contribution of European Union (EU) structural funds (SF) programmes toward the development of a self-sustainable VC industry in Latvia. The second was to identify ways by which the structural fund support could be better exploited for the development of the VC industry in Latvia. During three SF planning periods, the stated primary goal of the programmes to support high-growth SMEs was attained—to date, 294 VC investments have been made by publicly supported hybrid VC funds. During the 2004–2006 planning period, the first generation of professional VC fund managers in Latvia emerged in response to the opportunity to manage publicly supported hybrid VC funds. During the subsequent programmes, a high continuation rate by the established managers was observed. Nevertheless, Latvian VC fund managers are not yet capable of raising private funds and still encounter difficulties in attracting the necessary level of private capital for the publicly supported hybrid VC funds. The novelty of the study is the finding that improvements in the SF programme designs did not significantly decrease the impact of factors identified as limiting the success of the operations of VC managers. This suggests and confirms conclusions of other studies that argue that public policies aimed at creating healthy and supporting conditions for VC activity are necessary in addition to public financial support for VC funds. Regarding the next planning period, the suggestion regarding programme design is to continue with already started improvements: increasing the volume of funds, widening the geographic area eligible for investments, reducing restrictions on the types of financial instruments that may be used, lowering the administrative burden for VC fund managers and avoiding micromanagement of VC funds by governmental agency. The observation that the influence of investments in VC funds on the governmental agency’s responsible for VC investments financial statements may be partly responsible for the tendency to micromanage VC funds could be useful not only in Latvia but also in other countries.


Ergo ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21

Abstract During the programming period 2007-2013, the Structural Funds represented an important source of funds for research, development and innovation in the new member states of the EU. The article compares thematic focus of the EU Structural Funds support to this area (according to the categories of expenditure set by the EU legislation) in five countries with common historic experience - Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. The aim is to identify different approaches of individual states to finance research and innovation from the EU funds, also related to the development and structure of R&D expenditure, analysed in the first part of the text. The states in question have selected diverse strategies to invest European resources in research and innovation, particularly concerning the proportion of investment in research infrastructures to investment in research, innovation and related activities in business sphere. According to this comparison with the other examined countries, the Czech Republic is characterized by the highest orientation at spending the EU funds on the construction of research infrastructure.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiva DUMCIUVIENE ◽  
Alina STUNDZIENE

The economic and social cohesion is one of the economic objectives of the European Union. It is, therefore, important to analyse the impact of policies of the European Union on cohesion. The establishment of the common market still did not offer a solution for economic problems faced by the Member States. The economic and social cohesion is very important to strengthen the political and economic development of the Member States. This article includes the analysis of Lithuanian economic environment compared with the other Member States and the impact of EU structural funds on economic growth of the country. The detailed analysis of the correlation between funding and economic and social indicators of Lithuania showed that there is the significant direct relationship between the funding and the direct foreign investments per inhabitant. The significant correlation between EU support and other economic and social indicators was not found. Nevertheless the EU funding is undoubtedly useful and necessary to promote the economic growth. The efficiency of the use of EU funds is the largest problem and the task achieving the maximum benefit for the economics of Lithuania.


2007 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bachtler ◽  
Irene McMaster

AbstractThe relaunched “growth and jobs” agenda of the EU is reflected in the Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion. These have influenced the content of the new Structural Funds programmes, with increased importance accorded to innovation, knowledge and entrepreneurship. There is evidence of a more strategic approach to economic development and a stronger prioritisation of support. Whether this makes a difference to the Lisbon agenda depends on how the programme objectives are implemented as well as the broader regulatory and other changes required in National Reform Programmes. Convincing Member States of the importance of Cohesion policy also depends on the impact of the Funds being identifiable.


Equilibrium ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukáš Melecký

Research background: The European Union currently provides financial support to the Member States through various financial tools from European Structural and Investment Funds 2014–2020, and previously from the EU Structural Funds. In both terminologies, the funds represent the main instrument of EU Cohesion Policy to sustain territorial development, to increase competitiveness and to eliminate regional disparities. The overall impact of EU Funds depends on the structure of funding and absorption capacity of the country. Purpose of the article: The efficiency of funding across the EU Member States is a fundamental issue for EU development as a whole. The Author considers deter-mining the efficiency of EU Funds as an issue of high importance, and therefore this paper provides a contribution to the debate on the role of EU Cohesion Policy in the Member States. The paper focuses on territorial effects of relevant EU Funds in programming period 2007–2013 in infrastructure through efficiency analysis. Methods: Efficiency analysis is based on data at the country level, originating from ex-post evaluation of Cohesion Policy programmes 2007–2013 and representing the input and output variables to analyse whether the goal of fostering growth in the target countries have been achieved with the funds provided, and whether or not more resources generated stronger growth effects in transport accessibility. The paper deals with comparative cross-country analysis, descriptive analysis of dataset and multiple-criteria approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in the form of output-oriented BCC VRS model of efficiency and output-oriented APM VRS subsequently model of super-efficiency. Findings & Value added: The paper aims to test the factors of two inputs and five outputs, trying to elucidate the differences obtained by the Member States in effective use of the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund in the transport sector. The paper determines if the countries have been more efficient in increasing their levels of competitive advantages linked with transport. Preliminary results reveal that most countries with a lower amount of funding achieve higher efficiency, especially countries in a group of so-called “old EU Member States”, i.e. group EU15.


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