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Evaluation of public R&D policies: A cross-country comparison

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  • Czarnitzki, Dirk
  • Lopes Bento, Cindy

Abstract

This study focuses on the effect of public funding on internal R&D investment and on total innovation intensity on a cross-country comparative level. Using harmonised micro data from five different countries, this study analyzes the heterogeneity of the use of policy instruments. Applying a nonparametric matching method to identify the treatment effect, we find that on average firms would have invested significantly less if they would not have received subsidies. On similar grounds, our estimation also takes into account the 'treatment effects on the untreated'. This estimation enables us to assess whether or not governments could further foster R&D activities by extending innovation policies to currently not supported firms. With the exception of one country, all the governments of the sample would benefit from an extension of their subsidy policies. Finally, these two matching results can be combined in order to test for misallocation of public funds. Our analysis does not uncover any systematic misallocation of public funding for the countries under review.

Suggested Citation

  • Czarnitzki, Dirk & Lopes Bento, Cindy, 2010. "Evaluation of public R&D policies: A cross-country comparison," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-073, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10073
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    1. Xulia González & Jordi Jaumandreu & Consuelo Pazo, 2005. "Barriers to Innovation and Subsidy Effectiveness," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(4), pages 930-949, Winter.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ugur, Mehmet & Trushin, Eshref & Solomon, Edna, 2015. "UK and EU subsidies and private R&D investment: Is there input additionality?," MPRA Paper 68009, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Nov 2015.
    2. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Silva Filipe & Carreira Carlos, 2017. "Financial Constraints: Do They Matter to Allocate R&D Subsidies?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-26, October.
    4. Dirk Czarnitzki & Cindy Lopes-Bento, 2014. "Innovation Subsidies: Does the Funding Source Matter for Innovation Intensity and Performance? Empirical Evidence from Germany," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 380-409, July.
    5. LOPES BENTO Cindy & CZARNITZKI Dirk, 2012. "Value for money? New microeconomic evidence on public R&D grants in Flanders," LISER Working Paper Series 2012-19, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    6. Reiljan, Janno & Paltser, Ingra, 2013. "The implementation of research and development policy in European and Asian countries," Discourses in Social Market Economy 2013-03, OrdnungsPolitisches Portal (OPO).
    7. BIA Michela & FLORES Carlos A. & MATTEI Alessandra, 2011. "Nonparametric Estimators of Dose-Response Functions," LISER Working Paper Series 2011-40, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    8. Peroni, Chiara & Gomes Ferreira, Ivete, 2010. "Market competition and innovation in Luxembourg," MPRA Paper 38709, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Callum Wilkie, 2016. "Context and the role of policies to attract foreign R&D in Europe," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(11), pages 2014-2035, November.
    10. Ben R. Martin, 2015. "R&D Policy Instruments: A Critical Review of What We Do & Don't Know," Working Papers wp476, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    11. Hottenrott, Hanna & Lopes-Bento, Cindy, 2014. "(International) R&D collaboration and SMEs: The effectiveness of targeted public R&D support schemes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1055-1066.
    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. Ferrando, Annalisa & Lekpek, Senad, 2018. "Access to finance and innovative activity of EU firms: A cluster analysis," EIB Working Papers 2018/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    14. Ensthaler, Ludwig & Giebe, Thomas, 2014. "A dynamic auction for multi-object procurement under a hard budget constraint," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 179-189.
    15. Paola Brighi & Roberto Patuelli & Giuseppe Torluccio, 2012. "Self-Financing of Traditional and R&D Investments: Evidence from Italian SMEs," Working Paper series 61_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    16. William Arant & Dirk Fornahl & Nils Grashof & Kolja Hesse & Cathrin Söllner, 2019. "University-industry collaborations—The key to radical innovations? [Universität-Industrie-Kooperationen – Der Schlüssel zu radikalen Innovationen?]," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 39(2), pages 119-141, October.
    17. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Lopes-Bento, Cindy, 2013. "Value for money? New microeconometric evidence on public R&D grants in Flanders," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 76-89.
    18. Ahn, Joon Mo & Lee, Weonvin & Mortara, Letizia, 2020. "Do government R&D subsidies stimulate collaboration initiatives in private firms?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    19. Spyros Arvanitis, 2013. "Micro-econometric approaches to the evaluation of technology-oriented public programmes: a non-technical review of the state of the art," Chapters, in: Albert N. Link & Nicholas S. Vonortas (ed.), Handbook on the Theory and Practice of Program Evaluation, chapter 3, pages 56-88, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Hud, Martin & Hussinger, Katrin, 2015. "The impact of R&D subsidies during the crisis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1844-1855.
    21. Dragana Radicic & Geoffrey Pugh & Hugo Hollanders & René Wintjes & Jon Fairburn, 2016. "The impact of innovation support programs on small and medium enterprises innovation in traditional manufacturing industries: An evaluation for seven European Union regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1425-1452, 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Policy Evaluation; Treatment Effects; Cross-country comparison;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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