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This paper presents a methodology for evaluating the impact of public policies to assist the small business sector. The author reviews the various methodological approaches to evaluating small business support policies in developed economies. An analytical framework with six approaches is provided, beginning with the most simple and ending with the most sophisticated. These six steps include (1) take-up of schemes, (2) recipients' opinions, (3) recipients' views of the difference made by the assistance, (4) comparison of the performance of "assisted" with "typical" firms, (5) comparison with match firms, and (6) taking account of selection bias. Steps 1 to 3 are considered monitoring, with Steps 4 to 6 being evaluation. The difference between the two is that evaluations are attempts, demonstrating analytical rigor, to determine the impact of the policy initiatives. Monitoring either documents activity under the program or reports participants' perception of the value of the scheme.

This paper explores what small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policy is about, how it is pursued in Europe, and the differences between the European countries. According to the author, the overall objectives of SME policy are to create employment, foster economic growth, improve competitiveness, and regional/structural development. The SME-related policy pursued in most European countries involves a collection of various objectives and fields of economic policy rather than a conceptual framework. The author discusses the various approaches of SME policy that take place in the following European countries: Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and Belgium. The author also discusses the variation of instruments used in the following fields of SME policy: start-ups, finance, exports and internationalization, information, research and development, labor, and red tape.