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Do Cash Windfalls Affect Wages? Evidence from R&D Grants to Small Firms

Author

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  • Sabrina T Howell
  • J David Brown

Abstract

This paper examines how employee earnings respond to a one-time cash flow shock in the form of a government R&D grant. In a regression discontinuity design, we find that the grant immediately increases average annual employee-level earnings by 2.9$\%$. This benefit accrues only to incumbent employees and rises with job tenure. The grant also affects firm growth, but the initial wage patterns do not appear to reflect growth or productivity. Instead, the evidence supports implicit equity financing within the firm, where employees initially accept lower wages from financially constrained firms and earn more when the firm has ability to pay.Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabrina T Howell & J David Brown, 2023. "Do Cash Windfalls Affect Wages? Evidence from R&D Grants to Small Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 1889-1929.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:36:y:2023:i:5:p:1889-1929.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhac076
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    Cited by:

    1. Peydró, José-Luis & Jasova, Martina & Mendicino, Caterina & Panetti, Ettore & Supera, Dominik, 2021. "Monetary Policy, Labor Income Redistribution and the Credit Channel: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee and Credit Registe," CEPR Discussion Papers 16549, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Lanahan, Lauren & Joshi, Amol M. & Johnson, Evan, 2021. "Do public R&D subsidies produce jobs? Evidence from the SBIR/STTR program," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    3. Sophie Cottet, 2020. "Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects?," Working Papers halshs-03010943, HAL.
    4. Langella, Monica & Manning, Alan Patrick, 2021. "The measure of monopsony," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Sophie Cottet, 2024. "Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects?," CESifo Working Paper Series 11076, CESifo.
    6. Jin, Shaorong & Xiong, Ruoyu & Peng, Huan & Tang, Shiyu, 2025. "ESG performance and private enterprise resilience: Evidence from Chinese financial markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Kory Kroft & Yao Luo & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2025. "Imperfect Competition and Rents in Labor and Product Markets: The Case of the Construction Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(9), pages 2926-2969, September.
    8. Moser, Christian & Saidi, Farzad & Wirth, Benjamin & Wolter, Stefanie, 2020. "Credit Supply, Firms, and Earnings Inequality," MPRA Paper 100371, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Brian Bell & Paweł Bukowski & Stephen Machin, 2024. "The Decline in Rent Sharing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(3), pages 683-716.
    10. Monica Langella & Alan Manning, 2021. "Marshall Lecture 2020: The Measure of Monopsony [Monopsony in the UK]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(6), pages 2929-2957.
    11. Sophie Cottet, 2020. "Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects?," PSE Working Papers halshs-03010943, HAL.
    12. Yurdagul, Emircan & Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Manaresi, Francesco & Rachedi, Omar, 2021. "Minimum Wages and Insurance within the Firm," CEPR Discussion Papers 16823, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Wu, Wanshan & Jin, Lumin & Chen, Chang-Chih & Fang, Jianchun & Yan, Cheng, 2025. "Structural monetary policy, corporate behavior, and pay gap: Evidence from SMEs in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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