Economic impact of the European Funds in Extremadura during the period 2007-2013
Although the evaluation of European Union regional policy is necessary to improve the effectiveness of the operational programmes, it is not usual to find studies comparing the efficiency of two programming periods for the case of a particular region. This could be explained by the fact that, at regional level, the study of the efficiency of the European funds during two different programming periods faces many different problems; for example, it entails the consideration of both adequate and homogeneous data, and similar methodology. The goal of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to estimate the economic impact of the European Union structural and cohesion funds received by Extremadura, a Spanish convergence objective NUTS II region, during the programming period 2007-2013. To this end, it is provided a multipliers analysis based on a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of Extremadura for the year 2000. Secondly, the paper will compare the returns obtained in terms of output and employment by the European funds received in Extremadura during the periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013. Our results allow quantifying the effects of the EU regional policy, showing and comparing the efficiency for these two programming periods.
Financial Sustainability For Romanian Companies - European Structural Funds Between Inter-Regional Cohesion Or Division? Part Ii
This article contains the second part of the study “Financial sustainability for Romanian companies - European Structural Funds between inter-regional cohesion and division?” The first part of the study presented several aspects regarding the literature review, selection of the case study analysis of data based on simple statistical methods and several conclusions. This part of the study goes even deeper in the specialized literature presenting the new opinions regarding the efficiency and sustainability for usage of EU funding at the regional level. These opinions also signal several warning signs, especially when considering the increasing economic division between developed and less developed regions or regarding. Also was mentioned the dilemma between equity, which is ensured by the funding proposed to be delivered in the rural areas for ensuring the convergence policy and competitiveness which is obtained by investment high developed area in order to gain further growth. In order to establish the methodology, were analysed the most common approaches in assessing the efficiency of aid in general and European Structural Funds in particular: statistical data analysis, Social Accounting Matrix, Regionalized Hermin, Combined macro and regional model Applied Spatial New Economic Geography, GeoCells a multi-layered hierarchical automaton and Econometric methods. Since none of the studies were focused on the effects of EU funding over the private companies the authors tried to tackle this issue in the current study. Based on a database formed from 493 small and medium sized Romanian companies which directly benefitted from EU investment funding the authors decided to create, for the data analysis, a mixed methodology between the Spatial Data Analysis, Corporate finance and Econometrics. In order to solve the “dilemma” the paper through its case study assessed if there is a link between the efficiency of accessing European funds and the economic development of certain regions. This was done especially by comparing the efficiency of EU funded SMEs projects from well-developed counties with those located in less-developed counties, inside the same region.
Una nueva matriz de contabilidad social para España: la SAM-90
In this paper we show a new social accounting matrix for the Spanish economy in 1990 (SAM-90). Our starting point is a detailed evaluation of MCS-90, the social accounting matrix published in 1997 by the INE, and elaborated by a research group of the IVIE. SAM-90 put remedies to the inconsistencies detected, disaggregates foreign sector activities in two trade areas (the European Union and the rest of the world), and gives a more detailed account of public sector activities, both from the revenues and the expenses side. All these improvements make SAM-90 a more trustworthy and versatile tool for analyzing the effects of public policies in open economies.