Evangelos MAKRYVELIOS
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 105 59, Greece
vmakrivelios@ba.uoa.gr
(Corresponding AUTHOR)
Theodore PAPADOGONAS
Professor, Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 105 59, Greece
thpap@ba.uoa.gr
Abstract
This paper discusses the design, administrative sufficiency, and perceived efficiency of the Antonis Tritsis special development program to support the local government in Greece. The analysis will take an ex-ante evaluation which will look at the capacity of an administration, the institution design and the conditions of implementation of programs directly than the actual economic outcomes. The empirical research is founded on theoretical questionnaire and structured interviews with top managers, who are personally engaged in the program designing, financing, and monitoring, and is supported with S.W.O.T. analysis. The goal is to embed the perceptions of the strategic appropriateness, institutional functionality as well as implementation constraints with an focus on the inequality in administrative capacity between the municipalities and institutional complexity. The results indicate that the program can be viewed as strategically significant and financially innovative especially because the entire funding of the project financial sources was in place. At the same time, limitations related to the uneven administrative capacity of local authorities, institutional complexity, and the need to strengthen technical support, especially for small and island municipalities, are highlighted. The study contributes to the literature on local governance by offering evidence-based policy guidance for the design of more effective and equitable funding programs.
Keywords: E-ante evaluation, administrative capacity, public investments, local government, Greece
JEL classification: H70, H72, R10, R50, R58, D73
pp. 13-36