Respect Your Elders: Evidence from Ireland’s R&D Tax Credit Reform

Jean Acheson and Rory Malone
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Jean Acheson: Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Dublin
Rory Malone: Former Department of Finance, Dublin

The Economic and Social Review, 2020, vol. 51, issue 1, 105-131

Abstract: This paper exploits a unique reform in Irish corporation tax policy to evaluate the effect of tax incentives on research and development (R&D) investment. Using administrative panel data from the Revenue Commissioners, we establish for the first time the additional R&D investment that arises from the provision of the tax credit and we examine the associated firm characteristics. We find that the tax incentive helped to increase R&D investment by firms; however, the estimated effect is driven by older firms rather than younger firms. The latter result challenges a common narrative on the role of R&D tax incentives which increase cashflow for young firms: it suggests that their barriers to innovation may not necessarily be financial, and that age-targeted tax incentives could carry large deadweight.

Keywords: corporation tax; research and development; Ireland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eso:journl:v:51:y:2020:i:1:p:105-131

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