| 1. |
- Gustafsson, Anders, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Subsidy Entrepreneurs : an Inquiry into Firms Seeking Public Grants
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade. - : Springer. - 1566-1679 .- 1573-7012. ; 20, s. 439-478
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper studies the incentives and characteristics of firms that apply for, and eventually receive, one or multiple governmental grants intended to stimulate innovation and growth. The analysis departs from a contest model in which entrepreneurs are free to allocate their effort between production and seeking grants. The results suggest that highly productive entrepreneurs abstain from seeking grants, moderately productive firms allocate a share of their effort to grant seeking, and low-productivity firms allocate most resources to seeking grants. Due to their efforts in seeking grants, these low-productive subsidy entrepreneurs also have a relatively high probability of receiving the grants. Using comprehensive data over grants from the three largest grant-distributing agencies in Sweden, we find concordant evidence of a negative relation between the probability of receiving a grant and firm productivity. As we go from single- to multiple-grant-supported firms, this negative relation becomes more pronounced.
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| 2. |
- Gustafsson, Anders, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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The “sugar rush” from innovation subsidies : a robust political economy perspective
- 2016
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Ingår i: Empirica. - : Springer. - 0340-8744 .- 1573-6911. ; 43:4, s. 729-756
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The governments of most advanced countries offer some type of financial subsidy to encourage firm innovation and productivity. This paper analyzes the effects of innovation subsidies using a unique Swedish database that contains firm level data for the period 1997–2011, specifically informa tion on firm subsidies over a broad range of programs. Applying causal treatment effect analysis based on matching and a diff-in-diff approach combined with a qualitative case study of Swedish innovation subsidy programs, 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.
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