IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v53y2019i3d10.1007_s11187-018-0074-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

R&D tax incentives in EU countries: does the impact vary with firm size?

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Sterlacchini

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche)

  • Francesco Venturini

    (University of Perugia
    NIESR)

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of R&D tax incentives on the research activity of manufacturing firms based in France, Italy, Spain and the UK, over the period 2007–2009. Using a matching procedure, we show that, in all the examined countries but Spain, R&D tax incentives induced a statistically significant increase in the intensity of R&D expenses over sales. However, this effect is driven only by the behaviour of small firms. By assessing the benefit-cost ratio of R&D tax policies, we find evidence of substantial additional effects in Italy and the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2019. "R&D tax incentives in EU countries: does the impact vary with firm size?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 687-708, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-018-0074-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-018-0074-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-018-0074-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-018-0074-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rufin Baghana & Pierre Mohnen, 2009. "Effectiveness of R&D tax incentives in small and large enterprises in Québec," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 91-107, June.
    2. David, Paul A. & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Toole, Andrew A., 2000. "Is public R&D a complement or substitute for private R&D? A review of the econometric evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 497-529, April.
    3. Boris Lokshin & Pierre Mohnen, 2012. "How effective are level-based R&D tax credits? Evidence from the Netherlands," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(12), pages 1527-1538, April.
    4. Russell Thomson, 2013. "Measures of R&D Tax Incentives for OECD Countries," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 4(3).
    5. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512141480 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Ramana Nanda & William R. Kerr, 2015. "Financing Innovation," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 445-462, December.
    7. Emmanuel Duguet, 2012. "The effect of the incremental R&D tax credit on the private funding of R&D an econometric evaluation on french firm level data," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 122(3), pages 405-435.
    8. Philippe Aghion & Philippe Askenazy & Nicolas Berman & Gilbert Cette & Laurent Eymard, 2012. "Credit Constraints And The Cyclicality Of R&D Investment: Evidence From France," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(5), pages 1001-1024, October.
    9. Irem Guceri & Li Liu, 2019. "Effectiveness of Fiscal Incentives for R&D: Quasi-experimental Evidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 266-291, February.
    10. Bloom, Nick & Griffith, Rachel & Van Reenen, John, 2002. "Do R&D tax credits work? Evidence from a panel of countries 1979-1997," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 1-31, July.
    11. Nicholas Bloom & Mark Schankerman & John Van Reenen, 2013. "Identifying Technology Spillovers and Product Market Rivalry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 1347-1393, July.
    12. Bodas Freitas, Isabel & Castellacci, Fulvio & Fontana, Roberto & Malerba, Franco & Vezzulli, Andrea, 2017. "Sectors and the additionality effects of R&D tax credits: A cross-country microeconometric analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 57-72.
    13. Bronwyn Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2009. "Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 13-33, June.
    14. José Ángel Zúñiga-Vicente & César Alonso-Borrego & Francisco J. Forcadell & José I. Galán, 2014. "Assessing The Effect Of Public Subsidies On Firm R&D Investment: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 36-67, February.
    15. A. Bozio & D. Irac & L. Py, 2014. "Impact of research tax credit on R&D and innovation: evidence from the 2008 French reform," Working papers 532, Banque de France.
    16. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Monika Schnitzer, 2013. "Financial Constraints And Innovation: Why Poor Countries Don'T Catch Up," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(5), pages 1115-1152, October.
    17. Dirk Czarnitzki, 2006. "Research And Development In Small And Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Role Of Financial Constraints And Public Funding," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 53(3), pages 335-357, July.
    18. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hanel, Petr & Rosa, Julio Miguel, 2011. "Evaluating the impact of R&D tax credits on innovation: A microeconometric study on Canadian firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 217-229, March.
    19. Aghion, P. & Askenazy, P. & Berman, N. & Cette, G. & Eymard, L., 2008. "Credit Constraints and the Cyclicality of R&D Investment: Evidence from France," Working papers 198, Banque de France.
    20. Dirk Czarnitzki & Hanna Hottenrott, 2011. "R&D investment and financing constraints of small and medium-sized firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 65-83, January.
    21. Rao, Nirupama, 2016. "Do tax credits stimulate R&D spending? The effect of the R&D tax credit in its first decade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-12.
    22. Brown, James R. & Martinsson, Gustav & Petersen, Bruce C., 2012. "Do financing constraints matter for R&D?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1512-1529.
    23. Benoît Mulkay & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "The R&D tax credit in France: assessment and ex ante evaluation of the 2008 reform," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 746-766, July.
    24. Simon Bösenberg & Peter H. Egger, 2017. "R&D tax incentives and the emergence and trade of ideas," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(89), pages 39-80.
    25. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    26. Castellacci, Fulvio & Lie, Christine Mee, 2015. "Do the effects of R&D tax credits vary across industries? A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 819-832.
    27. Claudia Cantabene & Leopoldo Nascia, 2014. "The race for R&D subsidies: evaluating the effectiveness of tax credits in Italy," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(3), pages 133-158.
    28. Antoine Dechezlepretre & Elias Einio & Ralf Martin & Kieu-Trang Nguyen & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D," GRI Working Papers 230, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    29. Desiderio Romero-Jordán & María Delgado-Rodríguez & Inmaculada Álvarez-Ayuso & Sonia Lucas-Santos, 2014. "Assessment of the public tools used to promote R&D investment in Spanish SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 959-976, December.
    30. Ben Westmore, 2013. "R&D, Patenting and Growth: The Role of Public Policy," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1047, OECD Publishing.
    31. Maskus, Keith E. & Neumann, Rebecca & Seidel, Tobias, 2012. "How national and international financial development affect industrial R&D," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 72-83.
    32. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    33. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Einiö, Elias & Martin, Ralf & Nguyen, Kieu-Trang & Reenen, John Van, 2016. "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D, patents and spillovers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66428, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    34. Labeaga Azcona J. & Martínez-Ros E. & Mohnen P., 2014. "Tax incentives and firm size : effects on private R&D investment in Spain," MERIT Working Papers 2014-081, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    35. Ientile, Damien & Mairesse, Jacques, 2009. "A policy to boost R&D: Does the R&D tax credit work?," EIB Papers 6/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    36. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_028 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Bettina Becker, 2015. "Public R&D Policies And Private R&D Investment: A Survey Of The Empirical Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 917-942, December.
    38. Syoum Negassi & Jean-Francois Sattin, 2014. "Evaluation of Public R&D Policy: A Meta-Regression Analysis," Working Papers 14-09, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    39. Mukherjee, Abhiroop & Singh, Manpreet & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2017. "Do corporate taxes hinder innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 195-221.
    40. Isabel Busom & Beatriz Corchuelo & Ester Martínez-Ros, 2017. "Participation inertia in R&D tax incentive and subsidy programs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 153-177, January.
    41. Daniel Neicu & Peter Teirlinck & Stijn Kelchtermans, 2016. "Dipping in the policy mix: Do R&D subsidies foster behavioral additionality effects of R&D tax credits?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 218-239, April.
    42. Yohei Kobayashi, 2014. "Effect of R&D tax credits for SMEs in Japan: a microeconometric analysis focused on liquidity constraints," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 311-327, February.
    43. Yang, Chih-Hai & Huang, Chia-Hui & Hou, Tony Chieh-Tse, 2012. "Tax incentives and R&D activity: Firm-level evidence from Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1578-1588.
    44. David Aristei & Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2017. "Effectiveness of R&D subsidies during the crisis: firm-level evidence across EU countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 554-573, August.
    45. Hall, Bronwyn & Van Reenen, John, 2000. "How effective are fiscal incentives for R&D? A review of the evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 449-469, April.
    46. James R. Brown & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 2009. "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity, and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 151-185, February.
    47. Mariana Mazzucato & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "Public financing of innovation: new questions," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 24-48.
    48. Antonella Caiumi, 2011. "The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Tax Expenditures - A Novel Approach: An Application to the Regional Tax Incentives for Business Investments in Italy," OECD Taxation Working Papers 5, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang Ding & Gang Chen, 2022. "How Do Innovation-Driven Policies Help Sports Firms Sustain Growth? The Mediating Role of R&D Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Heijs, Joost & Guerrero, Alex J. & Huergo, Elena, 2020. "Matching methods for impact evaluation of public subsidies to business R&D: Measuring heterogeneous effects," MPRA Paper 103874, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. John Lester, 2021. "Benefit-Cost Analysis of Federal and Provincial SR&ED Investment Tax Credits," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 14(1), January.
    4. Tea Petrin & Dragana Radicic, 2023. "Instrument policy mix and firm size: is there complementarity between R&D subsidies and R&D tax credits?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 181-215, February.
    5. Labeaga, José M. & Martínez-Ros, Ester & Sanchis, Amparo & Sanchis, Juan A., 2021. "Does persistence in using R&D tax credits help to achieve product innovations?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. Karolis Matikonis & Matthew Gobey, 2024. "Small Business Property Tax Reductions and Firm Productivity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 307-324, January.
    7. Huanyong Ji & Shuya Sheng & Jun Wan, 2024. "Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Financial Performance of New Ventures: The Moderating Role of Government Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Labeaga, José M. & Martínez-Ros, Ester & Sanchis, Amparo & Sanchis, Juan A., 2021. "Does persistence in using R&D tax credits help to achieve product innovations?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    3. Emmanuel Chavez, 2020. "The Effects of R&D Tax Credits and Subsidies onPrivate R&D in Mexico (Chapter 2)," PSE Working Papers halshs-02652063, HAL.
    4. Blandinieres, Florence & Steinbrenner, Daniela, 2021. "How does the evolution of R&D tax incentives schemes impact their effectiveness? Evidence from a meta-analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Dai, Xiaoyong & Chapman, Gary, 2022. "R&D tax incentives and innovation: Examining the role of programme design in China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    7. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. OKAMURO, Hiroyuki & SAKUMA, Yohei, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Tax Incentive Reform on R&D Expenditures: The Case of 2009 Reform in Japan," TDB-CAREE Discussion Paper Series E-2021-04, Teikoku Databank Center for Advanced Empirical Research on Enterprise and Economy, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Pöschel, Carla, 2020. "Incentive Effects of R&D Tax Incentives: A Meta-Analysis Focusing on R&D Tax Policy Designs," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 243, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre, revised 2020.
    10. Chen, Ling & Yang, Wenhui, 2019. "R&D tax credits and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 233-241.
    11. Vincent Dortet-Bernadet & Michaël Sicsic, 2017. "The effect of R&D subsidies and tax incentives on employment: an evaluation for small firms in France," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 493, pages 5-22.
    12. Castellacci, Fulvio & Lie, Christine Mee, 2015. "Do the effects of R&D tax credits vary across industries? A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 819-832.
    13. Thomas H. W. Ziesemer, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Subsidies and Publicly Performed R&D on Business R&D: A Survey," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 171-205, March.
    14. Elina Ladinska & Marielle Non & Bas Straathof, 2015. "More R&D with tax incentives? A meta-analysis," CPB Discussion Paper 309.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    15. Bettina Becker, 2015. "Public R&D Policies And Private R&D Investment: A Survey Of The Empirical Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 917-942, December.
    16. Aristei, David & Sterlacchini, Alessandro & Venturini, Francesco, 2015. "The effects of public supports on business R&D: firm-level evidence across EU countries," MPRA Paper 64611, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Isabel Bodas Freitas & Fulvio Castellacci & Roberto Fontana & Franco Malerba & Andrea Vezzulli, 2015. "The additionality effects of R&D tax credits across sectors: A cross-country microeconometric analysis," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20150424, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    18. Elina Ladinska & Marielle Non & Bas Straathof, 2015. "More R&D with tax incentives? A meta-analysis," CPB Discussion Paper 309, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    19. Koch, Leonie & Simmler, Martin, 2020. "How important are local knowledge spillovers of public R&D and what drives them?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    20. Daniel Gama e Colombo, 2016. "Impact Assessment of Tax Incentives to Foster Industrial Innovation in Brazil: The Case of Law 11,196/05," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_30, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-018-0074-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.