Enhancing Objectivity and Decision Relevance: A Better Framework for Evaluating EU Cohesion Policies
Refereed Journal // forthcomingBy international standards, the EU’s Cohesion Policy (CP) evaluation system is well developed and institutionalised. This paper analyses remaining shortcomings and proposes recommendations for further refinement. A broad CP objective function emerges as a key challenge. Evaluation culture is not equally developed in all Member States, and evaluation markets suffer from a lack of international competition. There is still limited use of counterfactual methods which have become standard in the academic literature on the effectiveness of CP, and there may be tensions between policy learning and demonstrating accountability. The paper proposes innovations to make CP evaluations more credible and impactful.
Heinemann, Friedrich, Zareh Asatryan, Julia Bachtrögler-Unger, Carlo Moana Birkholz, Francesco Corti, Maximilian von Ehrlich, Ugo Fratesi, Clemens Fuest, Valentin Lang and Martin Weber (forthcoming), Enhancing Objectivity and Decision Relevance: A Better Framework for Evaluating EU Cohesion Policies, Regional Studies