Comparative Performance Assessment In EU Pre-Accession Funds

Abstract

This study aims at developing an analytical framework to assess the comparative performance and analyze the efficiency of the EU programs in the candidate countries, particularly in Turkey, in attaining the objectives of regional development policies. Such an analysis would contribute both to ascertain the absorption capacity of the regions for further EU funding and to identify the best practices in the three regional development grant schemes in Turkey, established and allocated under the pre-accession process. Comparative performance measurement approach can involve parametric or nonparametric methods. Major problem with a parametric approach is the requirement for a priori estimation of the type of method such as linear, non-linear etc. which may lead to a misspecified model. It might also get difficult to deal with multiple inputs and multiple outputs simultaneously. These problems can be overcome utilizing the non-parametric methods such as the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).