IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/22003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

R&D grant and tax credit support for foreign-owned subsidiaries: Does it pay off?

Author

Listed:
  • Lenihan, Helena
  • Mulligan, Kevin
  • Doran, Justin
  • Rammer, Christian
  • Ipinnaiye, Olubunmi

Abstract

Foreign-owned subsidiaries make significant contributions to national Research and Development (R&D) in many host countries. Policymakers often support subsidiaries through R&D grants and R&D tax credits. A key objective of this funding is to leverage R&D-driven firm performance benefits for the host economy. However, the subsidiary's parent firm may decide not to exploit the results from publicly-funded R&D projects in the host country. Therefore, supporting subsidiaries' R&D presents a risk that significant amounts of public funding may translate into little, or no payoffs for the host economy. Our study provides the first evaluation of 1) whether public R&D funding stimulates additional R&D investment in subsidiaries, 2) whether policy-induced R&D drives subsidiary performance, and 3) the differential effects of R&D grants and R&D tax credits. Drawing on a unique panel dataset for Ireland (2007-2016), we find that both R&D supports drive subsidiary R&D, resulting in substantial host country firm performance benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Lenihan, Helena & Mulligan, Kevin & Doran, Justin & Rammer, Christian & Ipinnaiye, Olubunmi, 2022. "R&D grant and tax credit support for foreign-owned subsidiaries: Does it pay off?," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-003, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/250387/1/1789678595.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Sadowski, Bert M. & Sadowski-Rasters, Gaby, 2006. "On the innovativeness of foreign affiliates: Evidence from companies in The Netherlands," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 447-462, April.
    3. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hanel, Petr & Rosa, Julio Miguel, 2011. "Evaluating the impact of R&D tax credits on innovation: A microeconometric study on Canadian firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 217-229, March.
    4. Robert Pearce & Marina Papanastassiou, 2009. "Multinationals and National Systems of Innovation: Strategy and Policy Issues," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Strategic Development of Multinationals, chapter 8, pages 138-162, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Giannopoulou, Eleni & Barlatier, Pierre-Jean & Pénin, Julien, 2019. "Same but different? Research and technology organizations, universities and the innovation activities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 223-233.
    6. Falck, Oliver & Heimisch-Roecker, Alexandra & Wiederhold, Simon, 2021. "Returns to ICT skills," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    7. 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.
    8. David, Paul A. & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Toole, Andrew A., 2000. "Is public R&D a complement or substitute for private R&D? A review of the econometric evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 497-529, April.
    9. Robert Pearce & Marina Papanastassiou, 2009. "Subsidiaries, Innovation and the Strategic Development of Multinationals," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Strategic Development of Multinationals, chapter 1, pages 1-20, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Kancs, d’Artis & Siliverstovs, Boriss, 2016. "R&D and non-linear productivity growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 634-646.
    11. Un, C. Annique & Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2008. "Do subsidiaries of foreign MNEs invest more in R&D than domestic firms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1812-1828, December.
    12. Alessandri, Todd M. & Pattit, Jason M., 2014. "Drivers of R&D investment: The interaction of behavioral theory and managerial incentives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 151-158.
    13. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Thorwarth, Susanne, 2012. "Productivity effects of basic research in low-tech and high-tech industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1555-1564.
    14. Enrico Vanino & Stephen Roper & Bettina Becker, 2020. "Knowledge to Money: Assessing the Business Performance Effects of Publicly Funded R&D Grants," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 17(04), pages 20-24, January.
    15. Montmartin, Benjamin & Herrera, Marcos, 2015. "Internal and external effects of R&D subsidies and fiscal incentives: Empirical evidence using spatial dynamic panel models," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1065-1079.
    16. Jean Acheson & Rory Malone, 2020. "Respect Your Elders: Evidence from Ireland’s R&D Tax Credit Reform," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 51(1), pages 105-131.
    17. Daniel Neicu & Peter Teirlinck & Stijn Kelchtermans, 2016. "Dipping in the policy mix: Do R&D subsidies foster behavioral additionality effects of R&D tax credits?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 218-239, April.
    18. Marina Papanastassiou & Robert Pearce, 2009. "The Strategic Development of Multinationals," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-25048-2, March.
    19. Marino, Marianna & Lhuillery, Stephane & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Sala, Davide, 2016. "Additionality or crowding-out? An overall evaluation of public R&D subsidy on private R&D expenditure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1715-1730.
    20. Kwon, Hyeog Ug & Park, Jungsoo, 2018. "R&D, foreign ownership, and corporate groups: Evidence from Japanese firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 428-439.
    21. Beck, Mathias & Lopes-Bento, Cindy & Schenker-Wicki, Andrea, 2016. "Radical or incremental: Where does R&D policy hit?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 869-883.
    22. Giovanni Cerulli & Bianca Potì, 2012. "Evaluating the robustness of the effect of public subsidies on firms’ R&D: an application to Italy," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 15, pages 287-320, November.
    23. Dumont, Michel, 2017. "Assessing the policy mix of public support to business R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1851-1862.
    24. Beom Cheol Cin & Young Jun Kim & Nicholas S. Vonortas, 2017. "The impact of public R&D subsidy on small firm productivity: evidence from Korean SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 345-360, February.
    25. Liu, Xiaolu & Li, Xiaoyu & Li, Honglin, 2016. "R&D subsidies and business R&D: Evidence from high-tech manufacturing firms in Jiangsu," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-22.
    26. Rao, Nirupama, 2016. "Do tax credits stimulate R&D spending? The effect of the R&D tax credit in its first decade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-12.
    27. Nilsen, Øivind A. & Raknerud, Arvid & Iancu, Diana-Cristina, 2020. "Public R&D support and firm performance: A multivariate dose-response analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    28. Minniti, Antonio & Venturini, Francesco, 2017. "The long-run growth effects of R&D policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 316-326.
    29. Girma, Sourafel & Görg, Holger & Strobl, Eric, 2003. "Government Grants, Plant Survival and Employment Growth: A Micro-Econometric Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 838, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    30. Mark Freel & Rebecca Liu & Christian Rammer, 2019. "The export additionality of innovation policy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(5), pages 1257-1277.
    31. David Bailey & Helena Lenihan, 2015. "A Critical Reflection on Irish Industrial Policy: A Strategic Choice Approach," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 47-71, February.
    32. Aiello, Francesco & Albanese, Giuseppe & Piselli, Paolo, 2019. "Good value for public money? The case of R&D policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1076.
    33. Silvia Appelt & Matej Bajgar & Chiara Criscuolo & Fernando Galindo-Rueda, 2016. "R&D Tax Incentives: Evidence on design, incidence and impacts," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers 32, OECD Publishing.
    34. Isabel Busom & Beatriz Corchuelo & Ester Martínez-Ros, 2014. "Tax incentives… or subsidies for business R&D?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 571-596, October.
    35. David Aristei & Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2017. "Effectiveness of R&D subsidies during the crisis: firm-level evidence across EU countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 554-573, August.
    36. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2007. "The Effect of R&D Subsidies on Private R&D," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(294), pages 215-234, May.
    37. 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.
    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. Dumont, Michel, 2022. "Public support to business research and development in Belgium: fourth evaluation," MPRA Paper 115418, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Thomas H. W. Ziesemer, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Subsidies and Publicly Performed R&D on Business R&D: A Survey," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 171-205, March.
    2. Helena Lenihan & Kevin Mulligan & Justin Doran & Christian Rammer & Olubunmi Ipinnaiye, 2024. "R&D grants and R&D tax credits to foreign-owned subsidiaries: Does supporting multinational enterprises’ R&D pay off in terms of firm performance improvements for the host economy?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 740-781, April.
    3. Dai, Xiaoyong & Chapman, Gary, 2022. "R&D tax incentives and innovation: Examining the role of programme design in China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Daniel NEICU, 2019. "Evaluating the Effects of an R&D Policy Mix of Subsidies and Tax Credits," Management and Economics Review, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 4(2), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Aalto, Eero & Gustafsson, Robin, 2020. "Innovation Promotion Rationales and Impacts – A Review," ETLA Reports 99, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    6. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. 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).
    8. 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).
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. OKAMURO, Hiroyuki & SAKUMA, Yohei, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Tax Incentive Reform on R&D Expenditures: The Case of 2009 Reform in Japan," TDB-CAREE Discussion Paper Series E-2021-04, Teikoku Databank Center for Advanced Empirical Research on Enterprise and Economy, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    13. 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.
    14. Tea Petrin & Dragana Radicic, 2023. "Instrument policy mix and firm size: is there complementarity between R&D subsidies and R&D tax credits?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 181-215, February.
    15. Shuang Wang & Shukuan Zhao & Dong Shao & Hongyu Liu, 2020. "Impact of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation in China: The Moderating Role of Political Connections and Investor Attention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    16. David Aristei & Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2017. "Effectiveness of R&D subsidies during the crisis: firm-level evidence across EU countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 554-573, August.
    17. Arvid Raknerud & Diana-Cristina Iancu & Øivind A. Nilsen, 2018. "Public R&D Support and Firms’ Performance. A Panel Data Study," Discussion Papers 878, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7rrsl07p559bjr85tr7hsft1o9 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Huseyin Emre Sayici & Mehmet Fatih Ulu, 2023. "Economic Effects of R&D Supports," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2308, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    20. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    21. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7rrsl07p559bjr85tr7hsft1o9 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Tim Buyse & Freddy Heylen & Ruben Schoonackers, 2015. "On The Role Of Public Policies And Wage Formation For Private Investment In R&D: A Long-Run Panel Analysis," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 15/911, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public funding for R&D; Firm performance; Firm ownership; Foreign-owned subsidiaries; Multinational enterprise; R&D tax credit; R&D grant; Policy evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • O25 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    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:zbw:zewdip:22003. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zemande.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.