METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO ASSESSING THE SOCIOECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION IN THE CONTEXT OF UKRAINE’S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

The article substantiates an integrated methodological approach to assessing the socio-economic efficiency of cross-border cooperation in the context of Ukraine’s European integration. Assessments limited to funding, activities or financial absorption do not reveal actual changes in well-being, access to services, border-region competitiveness, institutional capacity or convergence with European Union cohesion-policy practices. Socio-economic efficiency is defined as the degree to which jointly mobilised resources generate additional, attributable, territorially balanced and sustainable changes compared with the baseline and a plausible situation without the intervention. The framework combines systemic, programme-based, institutional, territorial and counterfactual approaches and distinguishes four levels: an individual project, a cooperation programme, a cross-border functional area, and the national and European-integration level. Six dimensions are systematised: economic and financial performance; social effects and human capital; territorial, infrastructure and environmental effects; cross-border additionality and balance; institutional, governance and European-integration changes; and sustainability, resilience and risk. The procedure includes indicator passports, normalisation, dimension indices and an integrated score tested through sensitivity analysis. The study substantiates a territorial benefit-balance coefficient, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, unit-cost indicators, difference-in-differences, comparison of similar territories, spatial analysis and qualitative assessment of institutional change. Evaluation must distinguish outputs, outcomes and impacts, identify cross-border value unattainable through unilateral action, and account for security shocks and data discontinuities. An evidence register and a staged cycle from ex ante appraisal to ex post assessment are proposed. The approach can be used by public authorities, programme managing bodies and territorial communities when selecting, monitoring and adjusting cross-border initiatives and demonstrating their contribution to regional development and Ukraine’s European integration.