Is the DESI an effective tool for guiding digital investments? Evidence from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)

Abstract In recent years, digitalization policies have accelerated across Europe, and the members’ National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) have channeled substantial resources for digital investments across sectors and regions. In this context, the need for data-driven methods able to assess the effectiveness of adopted policies in improving overall performance while narrowing territorial divides has increased. To address this need, this paper proposes a policy-oriented approach to evaluate digital investments in light of pre-existing regional conditions. Focusing on the Italian NRRP, it adopts a regionalized version of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) to conduct a comparative analysis of investments and performance. The results provide meaningful policy implications, revealing misalignments between funding allocation and initial conditions and the risk of exacerbating existing divides. Overall, the application demonstrates that the framework serves as both an evaluation tool and a support for identifying appropriate targeted policy strategies, highlighting its practical role in guiding policy.