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More subsidies, more innovation? Evaluating whether a mix of subsidies from regional, national and EU sources crowds out firm-level innovation

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  • Kevin Mulligan
  • Helena Lenihan
  • Justin Doran

Abstract

Policy-makers at regional, national and European Union (EU) levels of governance use a variety of subsidy programmes to stimulate firm-level innovation. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates three important issues that have not received sufficient attention in the literature: (1) whether evaluating the impact of subsidies from each individual source is biased by ignoring firms that receive a mix of subsidies from different sources at the same point in time; (2) whether receiving a mix of subsidies from regional, national and EU sources crowds out firm-level innovation; and (3) if effective, whether subsidy mix stimulates forms of innovation with higher private or social returns. The findings demonstrate that ignoring subsidy mix significantly biases evaluations of subsidies from individual sources. Moreover, subsidy mix can be a highly effective means of stimulating forms of firm-level innovation with the highest social returns, precisely where market and systemic failures are most acute.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Mulligan & Helena Lenihan & Justin Doran, 2019. "More subsidies, more innovation? Evaluating whether a mix of subsidies from regional, national and EU sources crowds out firm-level innovation," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 130-138, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsrsxx:v:6:y:2019:i:1:p:130-138
    DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2019.1580608
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mulligan, Kevin & Lenihan, Helena & Doran, Justin & Roper, Stephen, 2022. "Harnessing the science base: Results from a national programme using publicly-funded research centres to reshape firms’ R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(4).
    2. Li, Junbao & Shi, Zhanzhong & He, Chengying & Lv, Chengshuang, 2023. "Peer effects on corporate R&D investment policies: A spatial panel model approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Kiman Kim & Sang Ok Choi & Sooyeon Lee, 2021. "The Effect of a Financial Support on Firm Innovation Collaboration and Output: Does Policy Work on the Diverse Nature of Firm Innovation?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 645-675, June.
    4. Garrido-Prada, Pablo & Lenihan, Helena & Doran, Justin & Rammer, Christian & Perez-Alaniz, Mauricio, 2021. "Driving the circular economy through public environmental and energy R&D: Evidence from SMEs in the European Union," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Prokop, Viktor & Hajek, Petr & Stejskal, Jan, 2021. "Configuration Paths to Efficient National Innovation Ecosystems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Sonja Radas & Andrea Mervar & Bruno Škrinjarić, 2020. "Regional Perspective on R&D Policies for SMEs: Does Success Breed Success?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-25, May.
    7. Doran, Justin & Ryan, Geraldine, 2019. "Does nanotechnology research generate an innovation premium over other types of research? Evidence from Ireland," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Cristian Barra & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2022. "How do dimensions of institutional quality improve Italian regional innovation system efficiency? The Knowledge production function using SFA," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 591-642, April.
    10. Jennifer González-Blanco & Mercedes Vila-Alonso & Manuel Guisado-González, 2019. "Public Support Agencies for Innovation in Multilevel Governance Systems: Exploring the Existence of Signs of Complementarity and Substitution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-16, October.
    11. Aalto, Eero & Gustafsson, Robin, 2020. "Innovation Promotion Rationales and Impacts – A Review," ETLA Reports 99, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

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