The long-run effects of R&D subsidies on high-tech start-ups: Insights from Italy

Letizia Borgomeo, Christoph Koenig and Martina Miotto

Economics Letters, 2025, vol. 248, issue C

Abstract: We study the impact of a government subsidy program in Italy targeted at R&D-intensive projects presented by high-tech startups in 2009. Using the score assigned by the scientific commission to each project, we employ a Regression Discontinuity Design to study how the subsidy affected successful firms’ innovation activity and performance over more than 10 years. We show that the subsidy led to substantial increases in intangible assets and had a lasting positive effect on various dimensions of firm performance. Innovation as measured by patents did not respond to the subsidy.

Keywords: R&D subsidies; High-tech startups; Innovation policy; Firm performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 G38 L52 O31 O34 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Working Paper: The Long-Run Effects of R&D Subsidies on High-Tech Start-Ups: Insights From Italy (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:248:y:2025:i:c:s0165176524006384

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.112154

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