The relative efficiency of automatic and discretionary regional aid

For the last two decades, the primary instruments for UK regional policy have been discretionary subsidies. Such aid is targeted at "additional" projects - projects that would not have been implemented without the subsidy - and the subsidy should be the minimum necessary for the project to proceed. Discretionary subsidies are thought to be more efficient than automatic subsidies, where many of the aided projects are non-additional and all projects receive the same subsidy rate. The present paper builds on Swales (1995) and Wren (2007a) to compare three subsidy schemes: an automatic scheme and two types of discretionary scheme, one with accurate appraisal and the other with appraisal error. These schemes are assessed on their expected welfare impacts. The particular focus is the reduction in welfare gain imposed by the interaction of appraisal error and the requirements for accountability. This is substantial and difficult to detect with conventional evaluation techniques

Geographical interdependence, international trade and economic dynamics: the Chinese and German solar energy industries

The trajectories of the German and Chinese photovoltaic industries differ significantly yet are strongly interdependent. Germany has seen a rapid growth in market demand and a strong increase in production, especially in the less developed eastern half of the country. Chinese growth has been export driven. These contrasting trajectories reflect the roles of market creation, investment and credit and the drivers of innovation and competitiveness. Consequent differences in competiveness have generated major trade disputes

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Access to Finance in Europe’s Disadvantaged Regions: can ‘new’ financial instruments fill the gap?

No abstract available

Access to Finance in Europe’s Disadvantaged Regions: can ‘new’ financial instruments fill the gap?

No abstract available

RAGS and LIPS New weapons in the commission's regional aid control armory

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:7336.571647(31) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

European economic governance and cohesion policy

This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development.This study analyses the interactions between the wide-ranging economic governance reforms undertaken since 2008 and Cohesion Policy. It details the main changes and analyses how the aims of Cohesion Policy are likely to be affected. It also highlights the challenges of assuring legitimacy and of suitable formulation of Cohesion Policy as especially salient issues for the European Parliament, not least because of the expanded roles in economic governance of the European Commission and the European Central Bank.European Parliament. Committee on Regional Development

Regional policy in Europe after enlargement

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:7336.571642(no 44) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Measuring disparities for area designation purposes Issues for the European Union

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:7755.0112(24) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo