Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn this study we empirically tested the effect of the EU cohesion policy using a unique dataset of 273,500 European manufacturing firms, combining regional policy data at the UN Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics‐2 level with total factor productivity (TFP) at firm‐level. In a framework of heterogeneous firms and regions' different absorptive capacity, we show that financing by the European regional development fund aimed at direct investments in R&D is associated with the improvement of firms' productivity in a region, while funding designed to support overall business is not. The positive association with research, technology and development spending is stronger in the first quartile of the TFP distributions, for the firms that are the least efficient in a region. This appears to be in line with the priority of the policy, which aims at improving firms' competitiveness, especially that of small and medium enterprises. We finally argue that considering the heterogeneous distribution of firms' inefficiencies in a region is crucial to designing a better cohesion policy and to avoid a misallocation of resources it is better than looking at regional aggregates.

In this paper, we empirically test the effects of the EU 'cohesion policy' on the performance of about 500,000 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, we show that financing of 'cohesion policy' by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) aimed at direct investments in R&D correlates with improvement of firms' productivity in a region. Conversely, funding designed at overall Business Support correlates with negative productivity growth rates. In both cases, we registered an asymmetric impact along the firms' productivity distribution, where a stronger impact can be detected in the first quartile, i.e. less efficient firms in a region. We finally argue that considering the heterogeneity of firms allows a better assessment of the impact of 'cohesion policy' measures.

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, we show that the financing of 'cohesion policy' by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) aimed at direct investments in R&D correlates with an improvement of firms' productivity in a region. Conversely, funding aimed at overall Business Support correlates with negative productivity growth rates. In both cases, we registered an asymmetric impact along the firms' productivity distribution, where a stronger impact can be detected in the first quartile, i.e. less efficient firms in a region. We finally argue that considering the heterogeneity of firms allows a better assessment of the impact of 'cohesion policy' measures.