European structural funds during the crisis: evidence from Southern Italy

We investigate the effectiveness of European Structural Funds on employment, population and house prices in 325 Local Labor Markets (LLM) located in Southern Italy. We exploit the variability in disbursements between 2007 and 2013 and estimate the impact of the interventions by allowing for LLM-specific fixed features and LLM-specific time trends. We find that the ability of these funds to offset the negative consequences of the economic crisis seems to have been limited.