The 'sugar rush' from innovation subsidies: a robust political economy perspective
| Autor: | Alice Hallman, Andreas Stephan, Anders Gustafsson, Nils Karlsson |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Matching (statistics)
Public economics 05 social sciences Geography Planning and Development Subsidy Development Human capital Incentive Political economy 0502 economics and business European integration Economics 050207 economics Productivity 050203 business & management Public finance Market failure |
| Zdroj: | Empirica. 43:729-756 |
| ISSN: | 1573-6911 0340-8744 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10663-016-9350-6 |
| Popis: | The governments of most advanced countries offer some type of financial subsidy to encourage firm innovation and productivity. This paper analyzes the effects of innovation subsidies using a unique Swedish database that contains firm level data for the period 1997–2011, specifically informa tion on firm subsidies over a broad range of programs. Applying causal treatment effect analysis based on matching and a diff-in-diff approach combined with a qualitative case study of Swedish innovation subsidy programs, we test whether such subsidies have positive effects on firm performance. Our results indicate a lack of positive performance effects in the long run for the majority of firms, albeit there are positive short-run effects on human capital investments and also positive short-term productivity effects for the smallest firms. These findings are interpreted from a robust political economy perspective that reveals that the problems of acquiring correct information and designing appropriate incentives are so complex that the absence of significant positive long-run effects on firm performance for the majority of firms is not surprising. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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