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Journal ArticleDOI

Cohesion or confusion: a policy searching for objectives

TLDR
In this article, the authors examine the definition of cohesion and how cohesion policy has evolved in the EU and then look at the impact of cohesion policy as a process in European integration.
Abstract
Cohesion is an important EU policy domain that was originally primarily about regional development, but which has since acquired wider objectives. This article examines the definition of cohesion and how cohesion policy has evolved in the EU. It then looks at the impact of cohesion policy as a process in European integration, before focusing on possible reforms of cohesion policy. Five main dimensions of reform explored are the underlying remit of the policy, whether it should be retained in richer member states and regions, the linkages between innovation and cohesion, legitimacy issues and the economic governance role of cohesion policy. The article concludes that new thinking is needed to deal with the many unresolved issues around the future of cohesion policy.

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Journal ArticleDOI

Transforming European regional policy: a results-driven agenda and smart specialization

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the nature, rationale, and logic of the reforms to EU Cohesion Policy, focusing on the concept of smart specialization and the use of this concept to help facilitate a results-oriented policy agenda.
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Towards an integrated European Research Area? Findings from Eigenvector spatially filtered spatial interaction models using European Framework Programme data*

TL;DR: In this article, the authors monitor progress towards the European Research Area (ERA) by identifying the evolution of separation effects influencing FP collaboration intensities between 255 European regions over the period 1999-2006.
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Acquisition of European research funds and its effect on international scientific collaboration.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate whether existing scientific collaborations between European Union (EU) subnational regions are conducive for acquiring FP funding, and whether FP funding stimulates subsequent co-publication activity between pairs of EU regions.
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The post-2013 reform of EU cohesion policy and the place-based narrative

TL;DR: In this article, the role and use of discourse as a means of affecting EU cohesion policy reform is examined, and a discursive shift is traced to a place-based narrative, which sought to relegitimize and reconnect the policy with its foundational principles during the post-2013 policy review.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Lisbonization of EU cohesion policy : a successful case of experimentalist governance?

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the emergence of a new "experimentalist governance architecture" in EU Cohesion policy and assesses its effectiveness, which is characterized by a hybrid mix of soft and hard new modes of governance.
References
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Is Structural Spending on a Solid Foundation? Bruegel Policy Brief 2008/02, February 2008

TL;DR: In this article, the European Union's budget review, launched last year, is an opportunity critically to examine EU policies and instruments, including structural funds, and their role in economic growth and regional convergence.

Agglomeration and network effects in regional R&D productivity

TL;DR: In this article, an empirical approach is used to delineate the critical mass of agglomeration in Europe as well as to classify EU regions into different tiers according to the strengths of their aggloomation effects, which are then compared to the network effects of interregional connectedness as promoted by the EU's framework programme for research.

Towards a theoretical link between EU widening and deepening

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a set of multi-disciplinary ideas and assumptions about the causes and effects of EU widening and deepening, and discuss how to merge these assumptions and the approaches of different academic disciplines into a more integrated structure to further guide and conceptualise research.
Posted Content

Innovation and Spillovers: Evidence from European Regions

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify and estimate a "production function" of innovation for European regions using patent and R&D data, 1977-1995, and find that the elasticity of innovative output to R&DI employment is around 1, while knowledge externalities exist, are geographically localized in an area of 200 kms and are significant.
Trending Questions (1)
What are the criticisms of cohesion policy?

The paper discusses potential conflicts in policy aims and concerns about possible confusion in objectives of cohesion policy.