Evaluation of the Impacts of the Programme of Rural Development 2014-2020 in Austria

The Austrian Programme of Rural Development is one of the most important programmes in the entire EU. The aim of the study is to explore whether the programme has had the following effects: Has the programme contributed to improving economic performance, restructuring and modernisation of farms, achieving the Europe 2020 objective of increasing the employment rate, increasing the research rate and developing innovation, reducing climate change, to improve adaptation to changing climatic conditions and to increase energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy sources, to reduce the number of people affected by poverty, to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and to achieve balanced spatial development and to create and maintain jobs? Analysis is based on survey results, monitoring data and special evaluations of existing surveys. Methods for causal analysis are used, both econometric models and quantitative model analyses.