Decreasing the Regional Disparities through the EU’s Structural Fund Policy : A Study on the Impact of the Structural Fund Policy on Sweden’s Regional Growth

Sammanfattning:   The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the impact of the EU’s Structural Fund (SF) policy between 2000-2007 on regional economic growth in Sweden. A regional convergence analysis is performed in order to examine if the SF policy’s overall aim of convergence is reached. Furthermore the study examines the growth of important Structural Fund goal indicators as employment, education and new firm formation in the Objective 1, 2 and 3 areas. The main growth- and convergence theories and their connection to regional policies such as the SF policy is used as the theoretical framework and form the study’s hypothesis. The results show that absolute β-convergence exists between the Swedish urban areas. The growth of the goal indicators show that the Objective 1 and 2 areas, which received most part of the SF support have achieved their aims in increasing employment and new firm creation. In addition the Objective 2 areas have increased their share of population with higher education compared to the areas that did not receive either Objective 1 or 2 support. The Objective 3 areas, which received the least part of the SF support had a lower mean growth in employment than the areas that received no direct Objective 3 support. In addition the urban areas that only received Objective 3 support had a lower growth in share of population with higher education. From the results we can reach the overall conclusion that the positive impact of the SF policy on the goal indicators seem to be the largest in the areas that received most part of the funding. The final conclusion is that the SF are effective in enhancing economic growth in the areas of intervention.