Past Event

Impact and additionality assessment in the time of COVID-19

Understanding the impact and additionality of policy interventions.

Date: June 30, 2020, 2:00 pm Topic: Macroeconomic policy

livestream on 30 June @ 14:00 CET

Event materials

Presentation by Nicola Pochettino

Presentation by Mattia Romani

Presentation by Benoit Campagne

Presentation by Iana Liadze

Presentation by Simone Signore and Helmut Kraemer-Eis

Presentation by Alessandro Barbera, Áron Gereben, Marcin Wolski

The unprecedented global crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic makes it more important than ever to understand and demonstrate the impact and additionality of policy interventions. Policymakers are facing unprecedented economic, environmental and social challenges with a high level of ambition to ensure that recovery is sustainable, even, inclusive and fair. Institutions, such as the EIB, working towards the related policy objectives need a robust framework to understand how the support they provide translates into impact on the ground, and to demonstrate why that support is so crucial to achieving those results.

In this webinar will explore three complementary workstreams: project-by-project measurement of results, macro-level modeling of direct and indirect impacts, and; use of micro-data to understand how firms and individuals on the ground benefit from interventions. Each presenter will draw on their own experience of implementing different methodologies, showcasing rigorous and often innovative methodologies. The presenters will also reflect on the broader questions: how these techniques can be used by policymakers, the implications that can be drawn from the research, and the ways in which the techniques they have worked with might need to be adapted to address today’s challenges, priorities and opportunities.

This event will bring together practitioners, policymakers and researchers from international and European institutions, academia and think thanks.

Schedule

Jun 30, 2020

14:00-14:15

Introduction and opening speeches

Maria Demertzis, Interim Director

Andrew McDowell, Vice-President, European Investment Bank (EIB)

14:15-15:00

New challenges and opportunities for measuring impact and additionality

Chair:

Hans Peter Lankes, Vice President of Economics and Private Sector Development, International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Nicola Pochettino, Head of Division, European Investment Bank

Mattia Romani, Managing Director, EBRD

International financial institutions (IFIs) exist to contribute to policy objectives – improving lives and the environment around the world. IFIs need to be transparent with their stakeholders – their shareholders, their partners, and the taxpaying public – about the impacts they achieve on the ground, going beyond volumes of funding disbursed. They also need to demonstrate and communicate their “additionality” – to show why their inputs are central to making these projects happen and achieving the results they do. To make this possible, all IFIs have frameworks in place to measure the direct effects of their projects and link them, logically, to their policy objectives. These frameworks are under constant improvement to respond to new challenges. As the COVID-19 recovery proceeds, IFIs will be called upon more than ever to demonstrate and communicate the impact of every EUR they invest. Stakeholders are also demanding clear demonstration that the way resources are being used is designed to maximize impact. The EIB and the IFC will present recent innovations to their respective frameworks and talk about how these are helping them achieve and communicate a deeper understanding of their impacts and additionality.

15:00-16:00

Measuring policy impact at macro level – can models help us understand the impact of crisis response?

Chair: Francesco Di Comite, Political Administrator, Council of the EU

Benoit Campagne, Economist, World Bank

Andrea Conte, Economist, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Iana Liadze, Principal Economist, National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Georg Weiers, Economist, European Investment Bank

A project-by-project approach usually cannot demonstrate quantitatively the indirect effects of EIB projects on factors such as GDP and jobs. For this, impact modelling is needed. A number of institutions have invested in impact modeling…

16:00-17:15

Impact studies at micro level – shedding a light on how policy can support firms during and after crises

Chair: Natacha Valla, Dean of the School of Management and Innovation, Sciences Po

Ugo Albertazzi, Advisor, European Central Bank (ECB)

John Earle, Professor, George Mason University

Matteo Falagiarda, Economist, European Central Bank (ECB)

Áron Gereben, Senior Economist, European Investment Bank

Helmut Kraemer-Eis, Head of Research & Market Analysis, European Investment Fund

Simone Signore, Research Officer, European Investment Fund

Marcin Wolski, Economist, European Investment Bank

Micro impact research uses in-depth data about the people and firms who benefit, on the ground, from policy interventions, to understand how these operations have increased productivity, created jobs and changed lives. Impact studies often aim to demonstrate the causal link between operations and impact – not just observing a change in outcomes but substantiating its relationship to the intervention. These studies can have a strong payoff in terms of informing policymakers on what works and what does not, as well as in helping communicate credibly about the impacts achieved. The presenters will reflect on relevant insights of their research into how policymakers can respond to the challenges of COVID-19. They will also talk about how research agendas and methods can be adjusted to provide policymakers with the information they need to optimize their response to COVID-19.

17:15-17:30

Closing remarks

Debora Revoltella, Director, Economics Department, European Investment Bank

17:30

End