Cost-Benefit Analysis of Multi-Level Government: The Case of EU Cohesion Policy and of US Federal Investment Policies

by Alessandro Ferrara

Overview

This book provides an original framework to assess public investment policies co-financed by Union (Federal) governments. This framework is applied to two important case studies: the EU Cohesion Policy and the US Federal Investment Policies.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Multi-Level Government sheds light on a number of outstanding issues of economic theory by extending the theory of shadow prices, and provides guidance to real-world decision makers. In particular, the following questions are addressed:

• Under which theoretical circumstances, higher level government intervention in Member States through investment policies is justified?

• Is there any new welfare economics rationale underpinning interregional equity? What is the relationship between interregional and interpersonal income distribution? How can social exclusion be included in cost-benefit tests?

• How can higher level government budget funds to investment policies before it bargains programming documents with lower tiers of government by considering also their response function?

• In these circumstances, how can optimal matching rates be derived assuming binding and non binding budgetary constraints?

• Can such a theoretical framework be applied for guidance to real-world decision makers?

The book will be of interest to policy makers, postgraduate students and researchers in cost-benefit analysis, welfare economics, public choice, public finance, multi-level government economics, and income distribution issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135166618
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/05/2010
Series:	Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dr Alessandro Ferrara gained his PhD in Economics at the Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, UK. After having been responsible for cost-benefit analysis at the Evaluation Unit, Directorate General Regional Policy, European Commission, he is currently working as a specialist in economic modelling at the Unit of Economic and Quantitative Analysis, Additionality of the same Directorate General.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction 1. The Economic Theory of Shadow Pricing Part 2: Case Studies 2. The Cohesion Policy of the European Union 3. The Federal Investment Policies of the United States of America Part 3: The New Theoretical Framework 4. The Case for EU Intervention: Discussion 5. The Case for EU Intervention: Formalisation 6. The Impact of EU Intervention 7. Welfare Weights 8. Social Discount Rates 9. Shadow Wage Rates Part 4: Theoretical Insights and Policy Implications 10. Theoretical Insights and Extensions 11. Insights and Methodological Directions for the Case Studies