Urban development and expenditure efficiency in the 2000-2006 regional operational program of Sardinia

The Sardinian regional operational program 2007-2013 concerning the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2007-2013 ROP-ERDF) respects the rules of the ERDF on the investments for territorial cohesion since it promotes their regional geographic concentration. These investments are evenly shared between large- and medium-sized urban areas, and disadvantaged zones. This paper analyzes the investment policies implemented by the Sardinian Region through the 2000-2006 ERDF based part of the Regional Operational Program (2000-2006 ROP-ERDF), in order to assess their effectiveness, in terms of expense efficiency, for urban areas and disadvantaged zones. The assessment of the expenditure efficiency of the 2000-2006 ROP-ERDF is very important to address the policies of the 2007-2013 ROP-ERDF in terms of geographic concentration. The essay analyzes the results of the 2000-2006 ROP-ERDF, with reference to the expenditure efficiency of Sardinian cities, represented through a geographic information system, by means of a multinomial logit model. The essay proposes an analytical and interpretive approach which could be easily exported to other public planning processes, in order to define policies for territorial cohesion. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.