This report was produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director. It is part of the multi-level governance Programme of Work of the OECD’s Regional Development Policy Committee.
The report was coordinated and written by Antti Moisio, Economist/Policy Analyst, with substantial contributions received from Anna Rubin, Isabelle Chatry, Antoine Kornprobst, Louise Phung and Enrique Garzilazo from the OECD Secretariat. It was prepared under the supervision of Dorothée Allain-Dupré, Head of Unit, Decentralisation, Public Investment and Subnational Finance. This unit is in the Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance Section, led by Rudiger Ahrend, in CFE. The report also includes substantial contributions from Romain Pasquier, Professor and Director of Research at the CNRS; and Linda Veiga, Professor of Economics, University of Minho. The overall project was directed by Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Deputy Director in CFE. In the context of the project, a fact finding mission was organised in Portugal in April 2019, and a seminar was organised in Porto in April 2019. The OECD would like to thank Isabel Flores, General Secretary at IPPS-ISCTE, and Raul Lopes, Professor at ISCTE-IUL, for the coordination of the local team, and for Sérgio Nunes and António Mendes Baptista for their input in the local team. The OECD would also like to thank the two international peer reviewers, Mr Jani Pitkäniemi, Director General, Ministry of Finance, Department for Local Government and Regional Administration, Finland, and Mr Paweł Chorąży, Managing Director, Polish Development and Promotional Bank, Poland, who attended the seminar arranged in Porto in April 2019 and gave their valuable insights on regional reforms in their countries. Finally, the OECD would like to thank Mr João Cravinho and Professor João Ferrão as well as Mr Duarte Rodrigues for support and very helpful discussions.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the comments and input received from the Delegates of the OECD Regional Development Policy Committee throughout the process. Thanks are also due to Eleonore Morena for editing and formatting the manuscript and to Pilar Philip who prepared the final publication.