Productivity, Capital Accumulation and the Effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy


Dr. Petros Milionis ,

We investigate how EU structural funds ináuence economic development across NUTS2 regions in Europe. Our analysis di§ers from previous work on the topic in that (a) it distinguishes between contemporaneous and lagged payments, (b) it separates between the amounts of funds committed to each region and those actually paid out, and (c) it compares the impact of fund payments in raising regional income levels, capital stocks and total factor productivity. We also employ a novel approach in dealing with the endogeneity of structural fund payments which exploits the allocation rules based on which the EU distributes the funds across regions. The results of our analysis suggest that structural fund payments contribute positively to the growth rate of output per capita in the recipient regions. This increase, however, is only temporary, it is largely driven by boosting capital accumulation and it does not appear to be matched by similar increases in total factor productivity.



About the speaker

Petros Milionis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Econometrics & Finance at the University of Groningen. He is an economist with a BA degree from Athens University of Economics & Business, and an MA and PhD degree from Brown University. His main research interests are in the areas of economic growth and development, international economics and regional economics.



Venue: Conference room (0.16 & 0.17)

Date: 07 June 2018

Time: 12:30 - 13:30  CEST


UNU-MERIT