Effectiveness of R&D Tax Incentives in Small and Large Enterprises in Québec

Rufin Sosthene Baghana () and Pierre Mohnen ()

CIRANO Working Papers from CIRANO

Abstract: In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of R&D tax incentives in Quebec, using manufacturing firm data from 1997 to 2003 originating from R&D surveys, annual surveys of manufactures and administrative data. The estimated price elasticity of R&D is -0.10 in the short run and -0.14 in the long run, with a slightly higher elasticities for small firms than for large firms. We show that there is a deadweight loss associated with level-based R&D tax incentives that is particularly acute for large firms. For small firms it is not sizeable enough to suppress the R&D additionality, at least not during quite a number of years after the initial tax change. Incremental R&D tax credits do not suffer from this deadweight loss and are from that perspective preferable to level-based tax incentives.

Nous estimons l’efficacité des incitations fiscales à la R-D au Québec à partir des données des enquêtes annuelles de la R&D et de la manufacture et à partir des données administratives pour la période 1997 à 2003. L’élasticité-prix de court terme est estimée à -0.10 et celle de long terme à -0.14, avec une élasticité légèrement supérieure pour les petites entreprises. Nous trouvons une perte sèche assez nette pour les grandes firmes associée aux crédits d’impôt basés sur les niveaux de R-D. Pour les petites firmes cette perte sèche n’est pas suffisante pour détruire l’additionalité des crédits d’impôt. Les crédits d’impôt basés sur la recherche incrémentale n’accusent pas de perte sèche et sont de ce point de vue préférables aux crédits en proportion du niveau de R-D.

Keywords: R&D tax incentives; price elasticity of R&D; Quebec; Incitations fiscales à la R-D; élasticité-prix de court terme; Québec. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino and nep-mic
Date: 2009-01-01
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Related works:
Working Paper: Effectiveness of R&D Tax Incentives in Small and Large Enterprises in Quebec (2009)
Journal Article: Effectiveness of R&D tax incentives in small and large enterprises in Québec (2009)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cir:cirwor:2009s-01

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