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Are the subsidies to private capital useful? A Multiple Regression Discontinuity Design Approach1

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  • Guido Pellegrini
  • Augusto Cerqua

Abstract

There is still little consensus on the effectiveness of business support policies. The empirical evaluation is complicated by the difficulty in achieving reliable identification. We analyse the impact of Law 488/92, the main Italian regional policy. We propose a new approach, named multiple regression discontinuity design that exploits the sharp discontinuities in the L488 rankings and extends the RDD approach to a context where the treatment is assigned by multiple rankings with different cut-off points. We find that the impact of L488 on investment and production of the financed firms is positive and statistically significant.

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  • Guido Pellegrini & Augusto Cerqua, 2011. "Are the subsidies to private capital useful? A Multiple Regression Discontinuity Design Approach1," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1323, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1323
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    1. Federico Biagi & Daniele Bondonio & Alberto Martini, 2015. "Counterfactual Impact Evaluation of Enterprise Support Programmes. Evidence from a Decade of Subsidies to Italian Firm," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1619, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Annamaria Nifo & Gaetano Vecchione, 2015. "A quali imprese vanno i sussidi pubblici? evidenza dall?industria manifatturiera italiana," RIVISTA DI ECONOMIA E STATISTICA DEL TERRITORIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3), pages 5-28.
    3. Alessandro Cusimano & Fabio Mazzola, 2013. "Ex-post evaluation of Territorial Integrated Projects in Italy: an empirical analysis at firm level," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1331, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Augusto Cerqua & Guido Pellegrini, 2013. "Beyond the SUTVA: how industrial policy evaluations change when we allow for interaction among firms," ERSA conference papers ersa13p340, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Carmelo Petraglia, 2011. "Il Mezzogiorno nella letteratura economica del 2011," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 4, pages 1083-1098.
    6. Berumen, Sergio A., 2012. "Evaluación del impacto de la política de incentivos sectoriales en el desarrollo de los municipios mineros de Castilla y León," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Universidad ESAN, vol. 17(33), pages 15-30.

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