  The problems that are connected with Lagrangians which depend on higher order
derivatives (namely additional degrees of freedom, unbound energy from below,
etc.) are absent if effective Lagrangians are considered because the equations
of motion may be used to eliminate all higher order time derivatives from the
effective interaction term. The application of the equations of motion can be
realized by performing field transformations that involve derivatives of the
fields. Using the Hamiltonian formalism for higher order Lagrangians
(Ostrogradsky formalism), Lagrangians that are related by such transformations
are shown to be physically equivalent (at the classical and at the quantum
level). The equivalence of Hamiltonian and Lagrangian path integral
quantization (Matthews's theorem) is proven for effective higher order
Lagrangians. Effective interactions of massive vector fields involving higher
order derivatives are examined within gauge noninvariant models as well as
within (linearly or nonlinearly realized) spontaneously broken gauge theories.
The Stueckelberg formalism, which relates gauge noninvariant to gauge invariant
Lagrangians, becomes reformulated within the Ostrogradsky formalism.
