Semester Fall
ECTS 9
Description
The course aims to introduce students to the study of the evaluation to EU regional policy. In particular the aim of the course is threefold. The first aim is to illustrate the European Union Regional Policy and its evolution, institutions, mechanisms and financing. Special attention is dedicated the role of the European Structural Funds within the support of the regional development and the mechanism of the European Union´s support to the different regions. The second aim is to explain the processes of convergence and divergence between European regions, emphasizing the role of regional development policies. The third aim is to present some statistical methods for evaluating regional policies and to provide guidance on what might be the problems that arise in the quantitative evaluation of regional policy.
Module I
The objective of the module is to present the main statistical techniques to
empirical analysis:
• bootstrapping regression models;
• introduction to non parametric techniques (Basic ideas. Density estimation.
The Kernel approach. Nonparametric regression. Applications to macro and survey data);
• introduction to basic ideas of Bayesian statistical inference. The linear econometric model in some Bayesian settings. Applications to macro and
survey data.
Module II
The module aims to introduce students to:
• Statistical non-experimental methods for policy evaluation: the problem of causality, the counterfactual approach.
• The problems of estimating the counterfactual
• The impact of estimating counterfactual with application to regional policy
Module III
The module will introduce regional econometric models, input-output models and the EU Regional disparities. In particular:
• Causes and evidence.
• Regional policies: theoretical models.
• Historical development of European Regional Policy.
• Econometric models for convergence.