The role of Cohesion Policy for sustaining the resilience of European regional labour markets during different crises

Whilst the analysis of the impact of Cohesion Policy funds is well documented, little is known about the short-term consequences of Cohesion Policy during economic crises and its implications for regional resilience. To study these issues, we assemble novel, panel time-series data on Cohesion Policy covering almost four programming periods and different shocks in the European Union. Using heterogeneous coefficients panel models, we find a general positive impact of Cohesion Policy on regional resilience, although with region- and crisis-specific patterns during different shocks. Our results also suggest the presence of regional variation regarding regional labour market resilience over the past three decades.