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Corruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China

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  • Lily Fang
  • Josh Lerner
  • Chaopeng Wu
  • Qi Zhang

Abstract

Governments are important financiers of private sector innovation. While these public funds can ease capital constraints and information asymmetries, they can also introduce political distortions. We empirically explore these issues for China, where a quarter of firms’ R&D expenditures come from government subsidies. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the anticorruption campaign that began in 2012 and the departures of local government officials responsible for innovation programs strengthened the relationship between firms’ historical innovative efficiency and subsequent subsidy awards and depressed the influence of their corruption-related expenditures. We also examine the impact of these changes: subsidies became significantly positively associated with future innovation after the anti-corruption campaign and the departure of government innovation officials.

Suggested Citation

  • Lily Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu & Qi Zhang, 2018. "Corruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China," NBER Working Papers 25098, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25098
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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