Are Incentives for R&D Effective? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach

Raffaello Bronzini () and Eleonora Iachini

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2014, vol. 6, issue 4, 100-134

Abstract: This paper evaluates a unique R&D subsidy program implemented in northern Italy. Firms were invited to submit proposals for new projects and only those which scored above a certain threshold received the subsidy. We use a sharp regression discontinuity design to compare the investment spending of subsidized firms with that of unsubsidized firms. For the sample as a whole we find no significant increase in investment. This overall effect, however, masks substantial heterogeneity in the program's impact. We estimate that small enterprises increased their investments- by approximately the amount of the subsidy they received- whereas larger firms did not.

JEL-codes: G31 G38 L52 O33 O38 R32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.6.4.100
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (142)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/pol.6.4.100 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/pol/data/0604/2011-0006_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/pol/app/0604/2011-0006_app.pdf (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/pol/ds/0604/2011-0006_ds.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Are incentives for R&D effective? Evidence from a regression discontinuity approach (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:6:y:2014:i:4:p:100-134

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy is currently edited by Matthew Shapiro

More articles in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().