The short-run displacement of EU cohesion funds in Italy: Has reprogramming a positive impact on regional growth?

The European cohesion policy aims at fostering long-run growth. This paper, for the first time, empirically evaluates the impacts of Structural Funds re-programming on regional growth, for the Italian case during 2007–20 period. The re-programming was due to the redirection of allocated amounts facing urgent needs related to the Great Recession, Covid-19 and natural disasters. We estimate impulse response functions through Jordà local projections. We find a robust negative effect of re-programming on regional growth starting three years after the planned shock and sectoral heterogeneity. Our empirical results discourage the Funds’ redirection towards a different use from original goals.