{"id":124724,"date":"2024-01-23T09:18:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T08:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/publication\/124724\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T22:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:09:11","slug":"the-sugar-rush-from-innovation-subsidies-a-robust-political-economy-perspective","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/124724\/","title":{"rendered":"The \"sugar rush\" from innovation subsidies: a robust political economy perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-124724","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text":"The governments of most advanced countries offer some type of financial subsidy to encourage firm innovation and productivity. This paper analyses the effects of innovation subsidies using a unique Swedish database that contains firm level data for the period 1997-2011, specifically information on firm subsidies over a broad range of programmes. Applying causal treatment effect analysis based on matching and a diff-in-diff approach combined with a qualitative case study of Swedish innovation subsidy programmes, we test whether such subsidies have positive effects on firm performance. Our results indicate a lack of positive performance effects in the long run for the majority of firms, albeit there are positive short-run effects on human capital investments and also positive short-term productivity effects for the smallest firms. These findings are interpreted from a robust political economy perspective that reveals that the problems of acquiring correct information and designing appropriate incentives are so complex that the absence of significant positive long-run effects on firm performance for the majority of firms is not surprising.","onlinedate":"2016-11-01 01:00:00","lang":"English","publication_series":"","publication_date":"20161101","publication_date_year":"","publication_date_full":false,"publication_num_pages":"","keywords":"[\"Innovation subsidies Market failures Causal treatment effect evaluation Firm performance CEM Robust political economy\"]","jelcodes":"[]","related_publications":"[]","pdf":null,"zip":null,"link":"http:\/\/www.springer.com\/10663","monthly_report":false,"monthly_report_main":false,"monthly_report_volume":"43","monthly_report_pages":"729-756","monthly_report_pages_sort":"729","issue":"4","journal":"Empirica","publisher":"","invisible":false,"external":true,"embargo_date":null,"types":[83083],"research_groups":[3491],"collaboration":"","persons":[15753,15791,15757,12593],"persons_data":"[{\"personId\":15753,\"personName\":\"Anders Gustafsson\",\"organisationNames\":[]},{\"personId\":15791,\"personName\":\"Andreas Stephan\",\"organisationNames\":[]},{\"personId\":15757,\"personName\":\"Alice Hallman\",\"organisationNames\":[]},{\"personId\":12593,\"personName\":\"Nils Karlsson\",\"organisationNames\":[]}]","clients":[],"subclients":[],"partners":[],"topics":[],"host_publication_title":"","host_publication_subtitle":"","place_of_publication":"","host_publication_editors":"[]","type_description":"","output_media":"","chapter":"","article_number":"","scientific_assistance":"[]","scientific_review":"[]","version":"","release_date":null,"expiration_date":null,"surveyor":"","research_assistance":"","edv":"","additional_info_de":"","additional_info_en":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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