Reassessing the economic implications of environmental protection measures: the case of the EU’s green payments

• Environmental spending should not be assessed solely on the basis of implementation cost. • Comprehensive approaches are needed when assessing the induced economic effects of Green Payments. • Green Payments help enhance economic growth and maintain social stability in rural regions. • Results demonstrate that, besides playing a key role in sustainable agriculture, Green Payments are cost-neutral investments. • Evaluating the actual and multifaceted effects of Green Payments is pivotal for successful policy formulation. The EU’s Green Payments are widely studied and recognized for their role in environmental protection. Building on this well-established role, the present study attempts to delve into the profound effects of such payments on the balanced regional economic development. This focus is motivated by the ongoing debate surrounding their effectiveness, which reveals a perceived discrepancy between environmental and financial implications. Previous assessments have primarily focused on the direct financial implications for farmers, overlooking their broader regional economic effects. This study addresses this gap by investigating the indirect economic benefits generated through Green Payments, using an Input–Output model to trace their impact on output, income, and employment in the region of Thessaly, Greece. Results demonstrate that the benefits of Green Payments extend beyond direct financial returns, indicating that the evaluation of environmental funding should be multidimensional by considering overall benefits due to economic growth generated by the public expenditure itself. Particularly, it is illustrated that Green Payments produce, directly and indirectly, an estimated economic output that exceeds the expenditures for their implementation. On the outcome of policy, results overturn the prevailing perception that green-related payments are detrimental in financial terms and urge the need for more comprehensive approaches when assessing relevant measures to support better documented policy making.