How expensive is the implementation of rural development programmes?

This paper discusses the results of an evaluation of rural development (RD) programmes (RDPs) in five German states. It focuses on two issues: the relevance of implementation costs (ICs) in the context of RD policies and the development of a methodological approach to determine and consider them within evaluation studies. Two theories guide the discussion: (i) high ICs increase the overall cost of the programme and thus reduce the funding efficiency and (ii) high ICs increase the practical efficiency of programmes because they are associated with more targeted and more effective measures. The empirical results associated with this study support both of these theories in a number of respects. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]