IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpb/discus/309.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

More R&D with tax incentives? A meta-analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Elina Ladinska
  • Marielle Non

    (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis)

  • Bas Straathof

Abstract

R&D tax incentives are widely used to stimulate private R&D. We review their effectiveness using meta regression analysis. The literature mainly consists of two families of micro-econometric studies. R&D tax incentives are widely used to stimulate private R&D. We review their effectiveness using meta regression analysis. The literature mainly consists of two families of micro-econometric studies. The first family (16 studies with 82 estimates by the end of 2014) estimates the elasticity between the user cost of R&D capital and private R&D expenditure (stock or flow). Correlations between R&D expenditure and the presence of an R&D tax incentive scheme are provided by the second family (9 studies with 95 estimates). For both types of studies we find strong evidence of publication bias. After correcting for this, we find that a reduction in the user cost of capital of ten percent raises stock of R&D capital by 1.3 percent and flow of R&D expenditure by 2.1 percent. For the second family we find that presence of a scheme is associated with seven percent more R&D expenditure.

Suggested Citation

  • Elina Ladinska & Marielle Non & Bas Straathof, 2015. "More R&D with tax incentives? A meta-analysis," CPB Discussion Paper 309, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpb:discus:309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cpb.nl/sites/default/files/publicaties/download/cpb-discussion-paper-309-more-rd-tax-incentives-meta-analysis.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rufin Baghana & Pierre Mohnen, 2009. "Effectiveness of R&D Tax Incentives in Small and Large Enterprises in Québec," CIRANO Working Papers 2009s-01, CIRANO.
    2. Daniel J. Wilson, 2009. "Beggar Thy Neighbor? The In-State, Out-of-State, and Aggregate Effects of R&D Tax Credits," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 431-436, May.
    3. Benoît Mulkay & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "The R&D tax credit in France: assessment and ex ante evaluation of the 2008 reform," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 746-766, July.
    4. Dagenais, M. & Mohnen, P. & Therrien, P., 1997. "Do Canadian Firms Respond to Fiscal Incentives To Research and Development?," G.R.E.Q.A.M. 97b05, Universite Aix-Marseille III.
    5. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    6. Castellacci, Fulvio & Lie, Christine Mee, 2015. "Do the effects of R&D tax credits vary across industries? A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 819-832.
    7. Emmanuel Duguet, 2012. "The effect of the incremental R&D tax credit on the private funding of R&D an econometric evaluation on french firm level data," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 122(3), pages 405-435.
    8. Boris Lokshin & Pierre Mohnen, 2012. "How effective are level-based R&D tax credits? Evidence from the Netherlands," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(12), pages 1527-1538, April.
    9. T. D. Stanley, 2005. "Beyond Publication Bias," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 309-345, July.
    10. Lokshin, Boris & Mohnen, Pierre, 2007. "Measuring the Effectiveness of R&D Tax Credits in the Netherlands," MERIT Working Papers 2007-025, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Ajay Agrawal & Carlos Rosell & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2014. "Tax Credits and Small Firm R&D Spending," NBER Working Papers 20615, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. A. Bozio & D. Irac & L. Py, 2014. "Impact of research tax credit on R&D and innovation: evidence from the 2008 French reform," Working papers 532, Banque de France.
    13. Rufin Baghana & Pierre Mohnen, 2009. "Effectiveness of R&D tax incentives in small and large enterprises in Québec," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 91-107, June.
    14. Bronwyn H. Hall, 1993. "R&D Tax Policy during the 1980s: Success or Failure?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 7, pages 1-36, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. T. D. Stanley, 2008. "Meta‐Regression Methods for Detecting and Estimating Empirical Effects in the Presence of Publication Selection," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 103-127, February.
    16. Corchuelo, Beatriz & Martínez Ros, Ester, 2009. "The Effects of Fiscal Incentives for R & D in Spain," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb092302, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    17. Hall, Bronwyn & Van Reenen, John, 2000. "How effective are fiscal incentives for R&D? A review of the evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 449-469, April.
    18. Michel Dumont, 2013. "The impact of subsidies and fiscal incentives on corporate R&D expenditures in Belgium (2001-2009)," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 69-91.
    19. Chirinko, Robert S. & Fazzari, Steven M. & Meyer, Andrew P., 1999. "How responsive is business capital formation to its user cost?: An exploration with micro data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 53-80, October.
    20. Alberto Giovannini & R. Glenn Hubbard & Joel Slemrod, 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number giov93-1, March.
    21. Jon Nelson & Peter Kennedy, 2009. "The Use (and Abuse) of Meta-Analysis in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: An Assessment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 42(3), pages 345-377, March.
    22. Giovannini, Alberto & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Slemrod, Joel (ed.), 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226297019, December.
    23. Ientile, Damien & Mairesse, Jacques, 2009. "A policy to boost R&D: Does the R&D tax credit work?," EIB Papers 6/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    24. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    25. Yang, Chih-Hai & Huang, Chia-Hui & Hou, Tony Chieh-Tse, 2012. "Tax incentives and R&D activity: Firm-level evidence from Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1578-1588.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Montmartin, Benjamin & Herrera, Marcos & Massard, Nadine, 2018. "The impact of the French policy mix on business R&D: How geography matters," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10), pages 2010-2027.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7rrsl07p559bjr85tr7hsft1o9 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Annalisa Caloffi & Marco Mariani & Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2016. "Evaluating Public Supports To The Investment Activities Of Business Firms: A Meta-Regression Analysis Of Italian Studies," Working Papers 0116, CREI Università degli Studi Roma Tre, revised 2016.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4ji8v7q9nt9q0rsm9mqn5dqrrp is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Koen Frenken, 2016. "A Complexity-Theoretic Perspective on Innovation Policy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1619, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2016.
    6. Koen Frenken, 2016. "A Complexity-Theoretic Perspective on Innovation Policy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1619, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2016.
    7. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Dumont, Michel, 2017. "Assessing the policy mix of public support to business R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1851-1862.
    9. Daniel Gama e Colombo, 2016. "Impact Assessment of Tax Incentives to Foster Industrial Innovation in Brazil: The Case of Law 11,196/05," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_30, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    10. Pfeiffer, Olena & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "Tax incentives for research and development and their use in tax planning," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-046, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Heike Belitz, 2015. "Steuerliche Förderung von Forschung und Entwicklung: Erfahrungen aus dem Ausland," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 85, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Blandinieres, Florence & Steinbrenner, Daniela & Weiß, Bernd, 2020. "Which design works? A meta-regression analysis of the impacts of R&D tax incentives," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-010, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Pöschel, Carla, 2020. "Incentive Effects of R&D Tax Incentives: A Meta-Analysis Focusing on R&D Tax Policy Designs," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 243, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre, revised 2020.

    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. Elina Ladinska & Marielle Non & Bas Straathof, 2015. "More R&D with tax incentives? A meta-analysis," CPB Discussion Paper 309.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Stéphane Goutte & David Guerreiro & Bilel Sanhaji & Sophie Saglio & Julien Chevallier, 2019. "International Financial Markets," Post-Print halshs-02183053, HAL.
    3. Castellacci, Fulvio & Lie, Christine Mee, 2015. "Do the effects of R&D tax credits vary across industries? A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 819-832.
    4. Daniel Gama e Colombo, 2016. "Impact Assessment of Tax Incentives to Foster Industrial Innovation in Brazil: The Case of Law 11,196/05," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_30, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    5. Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2019. "R&D tax incentives in EU countries: does the impact vary with firm size?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 687-708, October.
    6. Pöschel, Carla, 2020. "Incentive Effects of R&D Tax Incentives: A Meta-Analysis Focusing on R&D Tax Policy Designs," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 243, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre, revised 2020.
    7. Isabel Bodas Freitas & Fulvio Castellacci & Roberto Fontana & Franco Malerba & Andrea Vezzulli, 2015. "The additionality effects of R&D tax credits across sectors: A cross-country microeconometric analysis," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20150424, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    8. Blandinieres, Florence & Steinbrenner, Daniela, 2021. "How does the evolution of R&D tax incentives schemes impact their effectiveness? Evidence from a meta-analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Dimos, Christos & Pugh, Geoff & Hisarciklilar, Mehtap & Talam, Ema & Jackson, Ian, 2022. "The relative effectiveness of R&D tax credits and R&D subsidies: A comparative meta-regression analysis," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Vincent Dortet-Bernadet & Michaël Sicsic, 2017. "The effect of R&D subsidies and tax incentives on employment: an evaluation for small firms in France," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 493, pages 5-22.
    11. Crespi, Gustavo & Giuliodori, David & Giuliodori, Roberto & Rodriguez, Alejandro, 2016. "The effectiveness of tax incentives for R&D+i in developing countries: The case of Argentina," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2023-2035.
    12. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    13. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Emmanuel Chavez, 2020. "The Effects of R&D Tax Credits and Subsidies onPrivate R&D in Mexico (Chapter 2)," PSE Working Papers halshs-02652063, HAL.
    15. Pfeiffer, Olena & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "Tax incentives for research and development and their use in tax planning," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-046, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Bettina Becker, 2015. "Public R&D Policies And Private R&D Investment: A Survey Of The Empirical Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 917-942, December.
    17. Blandinieres, Florence & Steinbrenner, Daniela & Weiß, Bernd, 2020. "Which design works? A meta-regression analysis of the impacts of R&D tax incentives," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-010, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Ajay Agrawal & Carlos Rosell & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2014. "Tax Credits and Small Firm R&D Spending," NBER Working Papers 20615, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Chen, Ling & Yang, Wenhui, 2019. "R&D tax credits and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 233-241.
    20. Boris Lokshin & Pierre Mohnen, 2012. "How effective are level-based R&D tax credits? Evidence from the Netherlands," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(12), pages 1527-1538, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cpb:discus:309. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cpbgvnl.html .

    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.