The impact of R&D policies: A review of recent studies

Paolo Fornaro ()
Additional contact information
Paolo Fornaro: Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE

No 364, Working Papers from Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE

Abstract: In this paper, I review the empirical literature of the last 20 or so years on the impact of public support to R&D, focusing on direct R&D subsidies and on R&D tax credits. The review considers both the impacts on R&D inputs, meaning private R&D expenditures, and outputs, such as patenting activity and productivity growth. In the survey, I include both macro-level studies, which examine the effects of public R&D support at the aggregate level, and micro-level analyses, which evaluate the impacts on firm- and worker-level outcomes. The studies covered in the review indicate a strong effectiveness of public R&D policies in stimulating private R&D activity. The effects on innovation and productivity are more uncertain, and might take long to materialize, but most of the works considered gave a positive assessment of public support to R&D.

Keywords: R&D; public R&D policy; public innovation policy; productivity growth; literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 O31 O32 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2026-08-20
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://labore.fi/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Tyopaperi364.pdf First version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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:pst:wpaper:364

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Aila Mustonen ().