Jean Monnet Module

Quantitative Economics for the Evaluation of European Economic Policy (QE4Policy).

European Regional Policy aims to create economic and social cohesion and to reduce the gap between the development levels of the various regions. Established in 1975, it has undergone constant changes and adaptations although the political priority of economic and social cohesion has been maintained. European Regional Policy also faced additional challenges over the last years: from the integration of new Member States and the European Union enlargement process, to the challenge of a more competitive and sustainable Europe in a changing global world, underpinned by the Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas. More recently, the Structural Funds (which are the main instrument of the European Regional Policy) have been called upon in the last financial crisis to create additional stimulus and increase advance.

The evaluation of European Regional Policy is a delicate issue. Today it is a part of the administrative culture in Europe, although progress is still uneven across member States. Some Member States (e.g. The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the Nordic countries) have traditionally consolidated evaluation practice, while interacting frequently with the design of public policies. Elsewhere, notably in southern countries, evaluation as an instrument to support policy has been little developed. There is widespread belief that evaluation activities should be conducted in an appropriate manner and with sufficient analytical rigour, to allow a proper use of evaluation results. In doing so, significant benefits can be achieved for the whole institutional system: a contribution to improved management of EU programmes; increased transparency and accountability; enhanced cost-effectiveness of public investments. However, until recently, systematic evaluations of regional policy were not undertaken, or in many cases were not considered as a priority.

The module on Quantitative Methods for the Evaluation of European Regional Policies (QMEERP) aims to introduce students to the study of the evaluation to EU regional policy. In particular the aim of the course is threefold. The first aim is to illustrate the European Union Regional Policy and its evolution, institutions, mechanisms and financing. Special attention is dedicated the role of the European Structural Funds within the support of the regional development and the mechanism of the European Union´s support to the different regions. The second aim is to explain the processes of convergence and divergence between European regions, emphasizing the role of regional development policies. The third aim is to present some statistical methods for evaluating regional policies and to provide guidance on what might be the problems that arise in the quantitative evaluation of regional policy.