The cash divide: the allocation of European Union regional grants

Distributive Politics, Electoral Institutions and European Structural and Investment Funding: Evidence from Italy and France

“…First, our county-level analysis reflects vote-buying patterns more accurately than previous studies that have focused on the determinants of SIF allocations across more aggregated NUTS 1 or 2 regions. Second, in contrast to the existing literature on SIF appropriations across NUTS 1 and 2 regions (e.g., Kemmerling and Bodenstein, 2006;Bouvet and Dall'erba, 2010;Bodenstein and Kemmerling, 2011;Dellmuth, 2011;Chalmers, 2013), we examine actual cash flows. This is a central contribution since budgetary commitments to regions and actual payments in regions may vary considerably (Dellmuth, 2011).…”

“…Second, in contrast to the existing literature on SIF appropriations across NUTS 1 and 2 regions (e.g., Kemmerling and Bodenstein, 2006;Bouvet and Dall'erba, 2010;Bodenstein and Kemmerling, 2011;Dellmuth, 2011;Chalmers, 2013), we examine actual cash flows. This is a central contribution since budgetary commitments to regions and actual payments in regions may vary considerably (Dellmuth, 2011). Third, while existing contributions on county-level SIF allocations are single-country studies (Dellmuth and Stoffel, 2012;Schraff, 2014), our comparative cross-national design enables us to analyze, for the first time, the roles of political institutions in shaping the distribution of SIF across counties.…”

“…Given that SIF allocations shape individual attitudes even among people with relatively low levels of political awareness (Chalmers and Dellmuth, 2015, p. 401), the assumption that politicians will expect citizens to link the receipt of EU funds to the incumbent government is warranted. 4 In using EU funds for electoral purposes, politicians face a trade-off between their short-term re-election goal and their long-term goal to retrieve all available EU funds in order to receive a similar or larger amount of SIF in the following budgetary period (Dellmuth, 2011). However, politics works in the short run (Lowi, 1964).…”

“…The Commission, in turn, is responsible for the correct implementation of the EU budget (cf. Dellmuth, 2011).…”

“…The increasing financial volume and importance of the SIF for the European economy raise important questions about how far domestic governments distribute the SIF in line with EU goals. Despite growing scholarly interest in the political determinants of EU budgetary allocations across European regions (e.g., Kemmerling and Bodenstein, 2006;Bouvet and Dall'erba, 2010;Bodenstein and Kemmerling, 2011;Dellmuth, 2011;Chalmers, 2013), however, we still know little about the sources of actual cash flows through the SIF within recipient regions (cf. De Rynck and McAleavey, 2001;Dellmuth and Stoffel, 2012;Schraff, 2014).…”