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Evaluating the Impacts of Subsidies on Innovation Activities in Germany

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  • Hujer, Reinhard
  • Radić, Dubravko

Abstract

Innovations are a key factor to ensure the competitiveness of establishments as well as to enhance the growth and wealth of nations. But more than any other economic activity, decisions about innovations are plagued by failures of the market mechanism. As a response, public instruments have been implemented to stimulate private innovation activities. The effectiveness of these measures, however, is ambiguous and calls for an empirical evaluation. In this paper we make use of the IAB Establishment Panel and apply various microeconometric methods to estimate the effect of public measures on innovation activities of German establishments. We find that neglecting sample selection due to observable as well as to unobservable characteristics leads to an overestimation of the treatment effect and that there are considerable differences with regard to size class and between West and East German establishments.

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  • Hujer, Reinhard & Radić, Dubravko, 2005. "Evaluating the Impacts of Subsidies on Innovation Activities in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 05-43, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:3286
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    Cited by:

    1. Raffaello Bronzini & Eleonora Iachini, 2014. "Are Incentives for R&D Effective? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 100-134, November.
    2. Nishimura, Junichi & Okamuro, Hiroyuki, 2011. "Subsidy and networking: The effects of direct and indirect support programs of the cluster policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 714-727, June.
    3. Roger Svensson, 2013. "Publicly-funded R&D programs and survival of patents," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1343-1358, April.
    4. Fang, Hongsheng & Wu, Xiao & Shen, Jim Huangnan & Zhao, Lexin, 2022. "The impact of technology identification policy on firm innovation: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Dimos, Christos & Pugh, Geoff, 2016. "The effectiveness of R&D subsidies: A meta-regression analysis of the evaluation literature," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 797-815.
    6. Carboni, Oliviero A., 2017. "The effect of public support on investment and R&D: An empirical evaluation on European manufacturing firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 282-295.
    7. Goerke, Björn & Albers, Sönke, 2016. "Long-term effects of subsidies on firm growth: introducing the concept of outcome additionality," EconStor Preprints 142164, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. 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.
    9. Barbara ERMINI, 2008. "Oltre Gibrat. Capitale umano dei fondatori, endogeneita' del finanziamento pubblico e crescita delle giovani imprese hi-tech italiane," Working Papers 322, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Aboal, Diego & Garda, Paula, 2015. "Does public financial support stimulate innovation and productivity? An impact evaluation," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    11. Tommy Clausen, 2008. "Do subsidies have positive impacts on R&D and innovation activities at the firm level?," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20070615, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    12. Ivano D'Antonio & Alessandro De Iudicibus & Giuseppe Piroli & Francesco Savoia, 2014. "Ricerca e innovazione in campania: una valutazione controfattuale della politica di coesione," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(113), pages 61-87.
    13. Brüggemann Julia & Proeger Till, 2017. "The Effectiveness of Public Subsidies for Private Innovations. An Experimental Approach," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, October.
    14. Marco Mariani & Fabrizia Mealli, 2018. "The Effects of R&D Subsidies to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Evidence from a Regional Program," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(2), pages 249-281, July.
    15. Brüggemann, Julia & Proeger, Till, 2017. "The effectiveness of public subsidies for private innovations: An experimental approach," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 266, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics, revised 2017.
    16. Clausen, Tommy H., 2009. "Do subsidies have positive impacts on R&D and innovation activities at the firm level?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 239-253, December.
    17. Paola Valbonesi & Federico Biagi, 2016. "Incentivising Innovation and Adoption of ICT: ICT Innovation Voucher Programmes," JRC Research Reports JRC104057, Joint Research Centre.
    18. Giuseppina Testa & Katarzyna Szkuta, 2018. "Improving access to finance for young innovative enterprises with growth potential: evidence of impact on firms' output - Part 2. R&D grant schemes: lessons learned from evaluations," JRC Research Reports JRC109879, Joint Research Centre.
    19. Abdelfeteh Bitat, 2018. "Environmental regulation and eco-innovation: the Porter hypothesis refined," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(3), pages 299-321, September.
    20. Zhu, J., 2018. "The agricultural root of innovation in China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277219, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Emmanuel Duguet, 2008. "L’effet du credit d’impôt recherche sur le financement privé de la recherche : une évaluation économétrique," Documents de recherche 08-08, Centre d'Études des Politiques Économiques (EPEE), Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne.
    22. 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.
    23. Aerts, Kris & Schmidt, Tobias, 2008. "Two for the price of one?: Additionality effects of R&D subsidies: A comparison between Flanders and Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 806-822, June.
    24. Juana Rivera-Lirio & María Muñoz-Torres, 2010. "The Effectiveness of the Public Support Policies for the European Industry Financing as a Contribution to Sustainable Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(4), pages 489-515, July.
    25. Hassine, Haithem Ben & Mathieu, Claude, 2020. "R&D crowding out or R&D leverage effects: An evaluation of the french cluster-oriented technology policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D policy; innovation; microeconometric evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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