IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v208y2023icp645-656.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Subsidies and tax incentives - Does it make a difference on TFP? Evidences from China's photovoltaic and wind listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Wei
  • Hu, Yingying
  • Wu, Qinwen

Abstract

Under potent policy support, China's photovoltaic (PV) and wind power industries have scored remarkable achievements. However, the mechanism of how the policy remains controversial. Based on the data of 62 listed companies from 2007 to 2020, this study constructs fixed-effect models and PSM models to investigate the effect of government subsidies and tax incentives on the technical efficiency of China's PV and wind power companies, as well as the role of R&D investment and operation efficiency. The results indicate that government support policies have a different impact on the companies' technical efficiency. Subsidies have significant inhibitory effects on technical efficiency by squeezing out private R&D investment. Meanwhile, tax incentives boost technical efficiency and operation efficiency recur to a mediating role. Based on these results, some valuable suggestions for improving the government policy mechanism of the photovoltaic and wind power industry are proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Wei & Hu, Yingying & Wu, Qinwen, 2023. "Subsidies and tax incentives - Does it make a difference on TFP? Evidences from China's photovoltaic and wind listed companies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 645-656.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:208:y:2023:i:c:p:645-656
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.03.080
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123003750
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2023.03.080?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiong, Yongqing & Yang, Xiaohan, 2016. "Government subsidies for the Chinese photovoltaic industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 111-119.
    2. Hille, Erik & Althammer, Wilhelm & Diederich, Henning, 2020. "Environmental regulation and innovation in renewable energy technologies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Sung, Bongsuk, 2019. "Do government subsidies promote firm-level innovation? Evidence from the Korean renewable energy technology industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1333-1344.
    4. Yu, Feifei & Guo, Yue & Le-Nguyen, Khuong & Barnes, Stuart J. & Zhang, Weiting, 2016. "The impact of government subsidies and enterprises’ R&D investment: A panel data study from renewable energy in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 106-113.
    5. Bronzini, Raffaello & Piselli, Paolo, 2016. "The impact of R&D subsidies on firm innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 442-457.
    6. Almus, Matthias & Czarnitzki, Dirk, 2003. "The Effects of Public R&D Subsidies on Firms' Innovation Activities: The Case of Eastern Germany," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 21(2), pages 226-236, April.
    7. David, Paul A. & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Toole, Andrew A., 2000. "Is public R&D a complement or substitute for private R&D? A review of the econometric evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 497-529, April.
    8. Rao, Nirupama, 2016. "Do tax credits stimulate R&D spending? The effect of the R&D tax credit in its first decade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-12.
    9. Tarun Khanna & Yishay Yafeh, 2007. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 331-372, June.
    10. Wang, Hongwei & Zheng, Shilin & Zhang, Yanhua & Zhang, Kai, 2016. "Analysis of the policy effects of downstream Feed-In Tariff on China’s solar photovoltaic industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 479-488.
    11. Wang, Qiang & Li, Shuyu & Pisarenko, Zhanna, 2020. "Heterogeneous effects of energy efficiency, oil price, environmental pressure, R&D investment, and policy on renewable energy -- evidence from the G20 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    12. K. J. Arrow, 1971. "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: F. H. Hahn (ed.), Readings in the Theory of Growth, chapter 11, pages 131-149, Palgrave Macmillan.
    13. Luo, Guoliang & Liu, Yingxuan & Zhang, Liping & Xu, Xuan & Guo, Yiwei, 2021. "Do governmental subsidies improve the financial performance of China’s new energy power generation enterprises?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    14. Zhang, Zhaoguo & Jin, Xiaocui & Yang, Qingxiang & Zhang, Yi, 2013. "An empirical study on the institutional factors of energy conservation and emissions reduction: Evidence from listed companies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 36-42.
    15. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    16. Boeing, Philipp, 2016. "The allocation and effectiveness of China’s R&D subsidies - Evidence from listed firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1774-1789.
    17. Zhang, Huiming & Zheng, Yu & Ozturk, U. Aytun & Li, Shanjun, 2016. "The impact of subsidies on overcapacity: A comparison of wind and solar energy companies in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 821-827.
    18. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2016. "Impact of energy conservation policies on the green productivity in China’s manufacturing sector: Evidence from a three-stage DEA model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 351-363.
    19. Plank, Josef & Doblinger, Claudia, 2018. "The firm-level innovation impact of public R&D funding: Evidence from the German renewable energy sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 430-438.
    20. Pei Wang & Cong Dong & Nan Chen & Ming Qi & Shucheng Yang & Amuji Bridget Nnenna & Wenxin Li, 2021. "Environmental Regulation, Government Subsidies, and Green Technology Innovation—A Provincial Panel Data Analysis from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-19, November.
    21. Clausen, Tommy H., 2009. "Do subsidies have positive impacts on R&D and innovation activities at the firm level?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 239-253, December.
    22. Wang, Yanbo & Li, Jizhen & Furman, Jeffrey L., 2017. "Firm performance and state innovation funding: Evidence from China’s innofund program," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1142-1161.
    23. Trinh Le & Adam B. Jaffe, 2017. "The impact of R&D subsidy on innovation: evidence from New Zealand firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 429-452, July.
    24. David M. Blank & George J. Stigler, 1957. "The Demand and Supply of Scientific Personnel," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number blan57-1, March.
    25. Kleer, Robin, 2010. "Government R&D subsidies as a signal for private investors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1361-1374, December.
    26. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September.
    27. Klaassen, Ger & Miketa, Asami & Larsen, Katarina & Sundqvist, Thomas, 2005. "The impact of R&D on innovation for wind energy in Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 227-240, August.
    28. Xu, Li & Zhang, Qin & Wang, Keying & Shi, Xunpeng, 2020. "Subsidies, loans, and companies' performance: evidence from China's photovoltaic industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    29. Wang, Xiaozhen & Zou, Honghui, 2018. "Study on the effect of wind power industry policy types on the innovation performance of different ownership enterprises: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 241-252.
    30. Zheng-Xia He & Shi-Chun Xu & Qin-Bin Li & Bin Zhao, 2018. "Factors That Influence Renewable Energy Technological Innovation in China: A Dynamic Panel Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-30, January.
    31. Torani, Kiran & Rausser, Gordon & Zilberman, David, 2016. "Innovation subsidies versus consumer subsidies: A real options analysis of solar energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 255-269.
    32. Scott J. Wallsten, 2000. "The Effects of Government-Industry R&D Programs on Private R&D: The Case of the Small Business Innovation Research Program," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(1), pages 82-100, Spring.
    33. Yang, Xiaolei & He, Lingyun & Xia, Yufei & Chen, Yufeng, 2019. "Effect of government subsidies on renewable energy investments: The threshold effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 156-166.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas H. W. Ziesemer, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Subsidies and Publicly Performed R&D on Business R&D: A Survey," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 171-205, March.
    2. Chang, Kai & Long, Yu & Yang, Jiahui & Zhang, Huijia & Xue, Chenqi & Liu, Jianing, 2022. "Effects of subsidy and tax rebate policies on green firm research and development efficiency in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    3. Luan, Ranran & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Positive or negative? Study on the impact of government subsidy on the business performance of China's solar photovoltaic industry," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 1145-1153.
    4. Shiyuan Liu & Jiang Du & Weike Zhang & Xiaoli Tian, 2021. "Opening the box of subsidies: which is more effective for innovation?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 421-449, September.
    5. Vlasova, Valeriya, 2021. "Industry-science cooperation and public policy instruments utilization in the private sector," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 519-528.
    6. Stjepan Srhoj & Michael Lapinski & Janette Walde, 2019. "Size matters? Impact evaluation of business development grants on SME performance," Working Papers 2019-14, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    7. Xing Shi & Yanrui Wu & Dahai Fu & Xiumei Guo & Huaqing Wu, 2019. "Effects of National Science and Technology Programs on Innovation in Chinese Firms," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 18(1), pages 207-236, Winter/Sp.
    8. Lin, Boqiang & Xie, Yongjing, 2023. "The impact of government subsidies on capacity utilization in the Chinese renewable energy industry: Does technological innovation matter?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    9. Szücs, Florian, 2020. "Do research subsidies crowd out private R&D of large firms? Evidence from European Framework Programmes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    10. Nadine Levratto & Aurelien Quignon, 2021. "Innovation Performance and the Signal Effect: Evidence from a European Program," Working Papers halshs-03466903, HAL.
    11. Giebel, Marek & Kraft, Kornelius, 2021. "Subsidies and innovation in the recent financial crisis," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-097, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Stjepan Srhoj & Michal Lapinski & Janette Walde, 2021. "Impact evaluation of business development grants on SME performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1285-1301, October.
    13. Zhenji Jin & Yue Shang & Jian Xu, 2018. "The Impact of Government Subsidies on Private R&D and Firm Performance: Does Ownership Matter in China’s Manufacturing Industry?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Guo, Di & Guo, Yan & Jiang, Kun, 2018. "Governance and effects of public R&D subsidies: Evidence from China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 74, pages 18-31.
    15. Shixian Ling & Guosheng Han & Dong An & Armigon Akhmedov & Hui Wang & Hui Li & William Cannon Hunter, 2020. "The Effects of Financing Channels on Enterprise Innovation and Life Cycle in Chinese A-Share Listed Companies: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    16. Liping Wu & Kai Hu & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko & Ishfaq Hamid, 2022. "The Impact of Government Subsidies on Technological Innovation in Agribusiness: The Case for China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, October.
    17. Lee, Jeongwon & Hwang, Junseok & Kim, Hana, 2022. "Different government support effects on emerging and mature ICT sectors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    18. Cailou Jiang & Ying Zhang & Maoliang Bu & Weishu Liu, 2018. "The Effectiveness of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation: Evidence from the New Energy Vehicle Industry in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-11, May.
    19. Shuang Wang & Shukuan Zhao & Dong Shao & Hongyu Liu, 2020. "Impact of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation in China: The Moderating Role of Political Connections and Investor Attention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    20. Lili Jia & Eunyoung Nam & Dongphil Chun, 2021. "Impact of Chinese Government Subsidies on Enterprise Innovation: Based on a Three-Dimensional Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:208:y:2023:i:c:p:645-656. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.