Evaluating Eu Regional Policy
How might we understand the causal connections between interventions and outcomes more effectively
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11194205 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Hart (0000-0001-5253-5873, Kingston University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 295-308 |
| Publication date | 2007-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-2872 • E-ISSN: 1470-1006 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01442870701640666 |
| OpenAlex | W1503052130 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 26 |
This article presents a challenge to the ways in which EU regional policy has been evaluated in the past. Given the complexity of the ‘policy framework’ and its objectives, it is argued that existing evaluation methodologies are not only inappropriate but create a real risk of misleading policy-makers in their search for identifying which programmes and initiatives are the most effective in tackling the scale of regional disparity that exists across the European Union. For example, the search for an ‘average effect’ of intervention, whether in terms of jobs created or GVA generated, does not adequately recognise the context within which policy operates. The article argues that only by attempting to adopt a realist evaluation framework can the discourse on effective regional policy be advanced. Examples are provided from a body of work on the evaluation of business support interventions in the UK as well as a broader study of the way in which regulations impacts upon firm performance and growth. This methodological approach provides an opportunity for the evaluator to identify the causal mechanisms which connect the range of policy interventions and their outcomes. In brief, it has greater potential to inform the policy-maker as to what works and, more importantly, in what contexts
Business · Context (archaeology · Economic policy · Economics · European union · Intervention (counseling · Order (exchange · Political science · Psychological intervention · Public economics · Regional Policy · Regional science · Scale (ratio · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Finance · Psychology · Regional Development and Policy · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Economics and Reality
Reorienting Economics
Realist Social Theory
Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation
Realism and Social Science
The Possibility of Naturalism
Being Human
Principles and purposes of European Union Cohesion policy evaluation
Evaluation of European Union Cohesion policy
Policy Debates
Evaluating the impact of the structural funds on objective 1 regions
Mid-term evaluations of Community Initiatives under European Union Structural Funds
Structural funds and the evaluation of community economic development initiatives in the UK
Evaluating the impact of European Union Cohesion policy in less-developed countries and regions
Accounting for Heterogeneity, Diversity and General Equilibrium in Evaluating Social Programmes
Method in Social Science
A Realist Theory of Science
Regions and sustainable development
Explaining Society, Critical Realism in the Social Sciences
| Citations per year | 0.24 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2015 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |