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Evaluating the impact of public policies on large firms: a synthetic control approach to science-industry transfer policies

Author

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  • Corinne Autant-Bernard
  • Ruben Fotso
  • Nadine Massard

Abstract

In most countries, large companies receive the majority of public research and development (R&D) funding. Due to methodological difficulties, however, assessments on the effect of government-funded R&D programs mainly focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises. To evaluate the impact of a specific innovation policy on large companies, this article suggests using the synthetic control method (SCM), initially developed by Abadie et al. (2010). This method is applied to evaluate the impact of a recent French science-industry transfer initiative, inspired by other foreign policy tools, and to demonstrate the relevance of the SCM compared to other evaluation methods for large companies. The SCM has the advantage of providing an individual assessment of the impact of a policy on each company, revealing highly heterogeneous results both on R&D inputs and companies? cooperative behavior. This study shows that the SCM offers new perspectives for assessing the impact of policies at company level.

Suggested Citation

  • Corinne Autant-Bernard & Ruben Fotso & Nadine Massard, 2022. "Evaluating the impact of public policies on large firms: a synthetic control approach to science-industry transfer policies," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(4), pages 9-50.
    • Handle: RePEc:cai:reidbu:rei_180_0009
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    C23; D22; O36; O38; impact evaluation; R&D policy; large firms; synthetic control method; Technological Research Institutes (TRIs);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • O36 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Open Innovation
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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