This paper assesses whether European Cohesion Policy funds from the 2007-2013 programming period
affected business dynamics in European regions. Using a regression discontinuity approach, the analysis
shows that regions receiving more funds experienced higher firm births, without statistically significant
firm deaths, resulting in positive net firm creation and growing firm-related employment. In addition, this
study confirms previous findings in the literature according to which regions receiving more funds show
higher increases in gross value added per worker. Finally, funds have a significantly higher effect on net
business employment creation in regions with lower levels of perceived corruption, although this is not
necessarily conductive to higher levels of labour productivity in those regions.