Text
EU Cohesion Policy Implementation - Evaluation Challenges and Opportunities
              This work is mainly aimed at evaluating the reasons behind the inefficient 
execution of Operational Programs (OPs) aimed at promoting research and innovation (R&I), especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To achieve this 
goal, we employed a three-stage slack-based measure (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model combined with Stochastic Frontier analysis (SFA), which includes 
a multiplicity of achievement metrics and environmental factors, to evaluate 53 OPs 
from 19 countries. Our findings suggest that more developed regions (proxied by a 
higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita) do not make an efficient application of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) aimed at fostering R&I 
in SMEs. Also, a greater proportion of the population with a university degree does 
not imply an appropriate use of ERDF devoted to R&I in SMEs            
No other version available