The economic impacts of Cohesion Policy

This chapter discusses the economic impacts of the Cohesion Policy, focusing on economic growth, employment and regional development. It sheds light on the factors that might support or prevent Cohesion Policy impacts from materialising in all regions of the European Union. The importance of counterfactual analysis is presented arguing for a comparison of similar treated and untreated regions, overcoming the problems of generalisation of average impacts across hardly comparable territories. The chapter also presents the key corrective measures that could be introduced to maximise impacts through an evidence-based approach to the design and implementation of regional and local development policies in Europe. The policy lessons for the Recovery and Resilience Plans and Next Generation EU are also discussed based on the most recent literature and evidence.