Fiscal Transfers and Economic Convergence in the EU: An Analysis of Absorption Problems and an Evaluation of the Literature

This book is the presentation of a study that the authors, director and research assistant at the European Institute of the University of Saarland, did on behalf of the European Commission. In view of the actual debate on the future of EU expenditures for regional and structural policy programmes, they were charged with summarising the state of knowledge of the academic world on economic problems linked to large scale fiscal transfers to economically backward countries.
Firstly, the authors define a dynamic efficiency criterion with which to assess the extent of transfer-related economic problems. Based on that, they explain in detail a multitude of potential problems and why the extent of these problems is likely to be positively correlated with the scale of transfers. Since most the problems have been neglected in existing studies assessing the growth effects of EU fiscal transfers, the estimates of these studies are probably too optimistic.
The book is of interest to all readers who are professionally concerned with the analysis of intergovernmental fiscal transfers, both within and between countries.

n in English