Significant disparities still exist between regions of the European Union, even though substantial Cohesion investments are directed to address this issue. To adjust the Cohesion Policy (CP), researchers assess the returns of the CP, but almost all studies are carried out at NUTS1&2 or a country...

This paper proposes a methodology which combines elements of parametric regression analysis with the nonparametric distribution dynamics approach in order to analyse the role of some variables in the convergence of productivity across European regions over the period 1980-2002. We find that the...

The economic and social cohesion policy of the European Union has two inter-related components, namely the vertical cohesion, referring to the alleviation of social disparities and the solidarity with the disadvantaged social groups, and the horizontal cohesion, which concentrates on the...

The aim of this paper is to provide a contribution to the debate on the effectiveness of cohesion policies in Italy. It focuses on the effects of EU spending on the convergence process across Italian regions from 1996 to 2007. The empirical analysis is based on a neoclassical growth model which...