The EU cohesion policy in context: does a bottom-up approach work in all regions?

Crescenzi, Riccardo and Giua, Mara (2016) The EU cohesion policy in context: does a bottom-up approach work in all regions? Environment and Planning A, 48 (11). pp. 2340-2357. ISSN 0308-518X

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Abstract

This paper looks at the European Union as a laboratory to study how ‘spatially-targeted’ policies (i.e. the EU Cohesion and Rural Development Policies) interact with sectoral ‘spatially-blind’ policies (i.e. the Common Agricultural Policy - CAP), jointly shaping regional growth dynamics. The analysis of the drivers of regional growth shows that the EU Regional Policy has a positive influence on economic growth in all regions. However, its impact is stronger in the most socio-economically advanced areas and is maximised when its expenditure is complemented by Rural Development and CAP funds. The top-down funding of the CAP seems to be able to concentrate some benefits in the most deprived areas of the Union. This suggests that bottom-up policies are not always the best approach to territorial cohesion. Top-down policies may – in some cases – be effective in order to channel resources to the most socio-economically deprived areas. Territorial cohesion requires the flexible integration and coordination of both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://epn.sagepub.com/
Additional Information:	© 2016 The Authors
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Journal of Economic Literature Classification System:	O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O18 - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis > R58 - Regional Development Policy
Sets:	Departments > Geography and Environment Collections > Economists Online
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2016 16:29
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66946/

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