Do R&D Credits Work? Evidence From A Panel Of Countries 1979-97

John van Reenen, Rachel Griffith and Nicholas Bloom

No 2415, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of fiscal incentives on the level of R&D investment. An econometric model of R&D investment is estimated using a new panel of data on tax changes and R&D spending in nine OECD countries over a nineteen-year period (1979-1996). We find evidence that tax incentives are effective in increasing R&D intensity. This is true even after allowing for permanent country specific characteristics, world macro shocks and other policy influences. We estimate that a 10% fall in the cost of R&D stimulates a 1% rise in the level of R&D in the short-run; R&D increases by just under 10% in the long-run. Additionally there is some evidence that changes in R&D tax credits affect decisions over the international location of R&D as suggested by models of tax competition.

Keywords: Panel data; R&d; Tax competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 L13 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP2415 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
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:cpr:ceprdp:2415

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP2415

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().