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Waste of money or growth opportunity: The causal effect of EU subsidies on Hungarian SMEs

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  • Banai, Ádám
  • Lang, Péter
  • Nagy, Gábor
  • Stancsics, Martin

Abstract

Although EU subsidies aiming at economic development play a pivotal role not only for Hungary but for the entire European Union as well, there is a debate regarding their effectiveness in the literature. This paper investigates the impact of direct economic development subsidies extended in the context of Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund as part of the 2007–2013 programming period of the European Union on Hungarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on a micro database, we evaluate the impact of corporates’ first subsidies on various performance indicators, using a combination of propensity score matching and fixed effects panel regression. According to our results, economic development funds had a significant positive effect on the number of employees, sales revenue, gross value added and, in some cases, operating profit. However, the labour productivity of enterprises was not significantly affected by any of the support schemes. Furthermore, by explicitly comparing non-refundable subsidies (grants) and refundable assistance (financial instruments), we find that there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of the two types of subsidy.

Suggested Citation

  • Banai, Ádám & Lang, Péter & Nagy, Gábor & Stancsics, Martin, 2020. "Waste of money or growth opportunity: The causal effect of EU subsidies on Hungarian SMEs," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:44:y:2020:i:1:s0939362518301900
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2020.100742
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    Cited by:

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    3. Martina Novotná & Ivana Faltová Leitmanová & Jiří Alina & Tomáš Volek, 2020. "Capital Intensity and Labour Productivity in Waste Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Telegdy, Álmos & Tóth, Gábor, 2024. "A támogatott hitelezés hatásvizsgálata Magyarországon [Impact assessment of subsidised loans in Hungary]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 113-130.
    5. Manelici, Isabela & Pantea, Smaranda, 2021. "Industrial policy at work: Evidence from Romania’s income tax break for workers in IT," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Špetlík Václav & Čadil Jan, 2023. "When Daces Bite Deeper than Sharks – Does the SMEs Public Subsidy Dose Matter?," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 23(4), pages 233-250, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Impact evaluation; EU subsidies; Firm-level effects; Propensity score matching; Fixed effects; JEL classification; D04; G38; H25; O22;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • O22 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Project Analysis

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