The present paper refers to the results from the evaluation of rural development programmes (RDPs) of five German states. It is focussed on two issues. The first is to develop a methodological approach for determining the implementation costs (ICs). The second is the discussion of their relevance in the context of the implementation of rural development policies presenting selected empirical results. The cost-impact synopsis (CIS) is a wider approach to relate the measure-specific implementation costs and disbursed funds, based on implementation cost classes, with achieved impact levels. The principles guiding the discussion are two theses: (1) High implementation costs increase the overall cost of the programme and thus reduce funding efficiency, (2) High implementation costs increase the use efficiency of the programmes because they are associated with more targeted, more effective measures. Sample analytical results for different study levels show that the empirical results lie somewhere between these two extremes.