IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5901.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Identifying the Effects of Place-Based Policies - Causal Evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Dettmann
  • Matthias Brachert
  • Mirko Titze

Abstract

The German government provides discretionary investment grants to structurally weak regions to reduce regional disparities. We use a regression discontinuity design that exploits an exogenous discrete jump in the probability of receiving investment grants, to identify the causal effects of the investment grant on regional outcomes. We find positive effects for regional gross value-added and productivity growth, but no effects for employment and gross wage growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Dettmann & Matthias Brachert & Mirko Titze, 2016. "Identifying the Effects of Place-Based Policies - Causal Evidence from Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 5901, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5901
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5901.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sascha O. Becker & Peter H. Egger & Maximilian von Ehrlich, 2013. "Absorptive Capacity and the Growth and Investment Effects of Regional Transfers: A Regression Discontinuity Design with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 29-77, November.
    2. Becker, Sascha O. & Egger, Peter H. & von Ehrlich, Maximilian, 2012. "Too much of a good thing? On the growth effects of the EU's regional policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 648-668.
    3. Emanuele Ciani & Guido de Blasio, 2015. "European structural funds during the crisis: evidence from Southern Italy," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, December.
    4. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    5. Criscuolo, Chiara & Martin, Ralf & Overman, Henry & Van Reenen, John, 2012. "The Causal Effects of an Industrial Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 6323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    7. Maximilian v. Ehrlich & Tobias Seidel, 2018. "The Persistent Effects of Place-Based Policy: Evidence from the West-German Zonenrandgebiet," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 344-374, November.
    8. Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2014. "Do subsidies to private capital boost firms' growth? A multiple regression discontinuity design approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 114-126.
    9. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8mc0ghsn is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Moretti, Enrico, 2011. "Local Labor Markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 14, pages 1237-1313, Elsevier.
    11. Falck, Oliver & Heblich, Stephan & Kipar, Stefan, 2010. "Industrial innovation: Direct evidence from a cluster-oriented policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 574-582, November.
    12. Martin, Philippe & Mayer, Thierry & Mayneris, Florian, 2011. "Public support to clusters: A firm level study of French "Local Productive Systems"," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 108-123, March.
    13. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel & Simpson, Helen, 2007. "Firm location decisions, regional grants and agglomeration externalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 413-435, April.
    14. Becker, Sascha O. & Egger, Peter H. & von Ehrlich, Maximilian, 2010. "Going NUTS: The effect of EU Structural Funds on regional performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 578-590, October.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1nfkh9tn2m87ko6gb634e2ufgl is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    17. Henning Klodt, 2000. "Industrial Policy and the East German Productivity Puzzle," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(3), pages 315-333, August.
    18. Marusca de Castris & Guido Pellegrini, 2012. "Evaluation of Spatial Effects of Capital Subsidies in the South of Italy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 525-538, June.
    19. Bronzini, Raffaello & de Blasio, Guido, 2006. "Evaluating the impact of investment incentives: The case of Italy's Law 488/1992," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 327-349, September.
    20. Bade, Franz-Josef & Alm, Bastian, 2010. "Endbericht zum Gutachten Evaluierung der Gemeinschaftsaufgabe "Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur" (GRW) durch einzelbetriebliche Erfolgskontrolle für den Förderzeitraum 1999-20," EconStor Research Reports 93487, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    21. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    22. Bernini, Cristina & Pellegrini, Guido, 2011. "How are growth and productivity in private firms affected by public subsidy? Evidence from a regional policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 253-265, May.
    23. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2008. "The Economics of Place-Making Policies," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 155-253.
    24. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    25. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8mc0ghsn is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Hahn, Jinyong & Todd, Petra & Van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2001. "Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 201-209, January.
    27. Neumark, David & Kolko, Jed, 2010. "Do enterprise zones create jobs? Evidence from California's enterprise zone program," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 1-19, July.
    28. repec:bri:cmpowp:13/331 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Gregor Pfeifer & Fabian Wahl & Martyna Marczak, 2018. "Illuminating the World Cup effect: Night lights evidence from South Africa," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 887-920, November.
    2. Ramboer, Sander & Reynaerts, Jo, 2020. "Indecent proposals: Estimating the impact of regional state aid through EU guideline compliance," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Falck, Oliver & Koenen, Johannes & Lohse, Tobias, 2019. "Evaluating a place-based innovation policy: Evidence from the innovative Regional Growth Cores Program in East Germany," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Brachert, Matthias & Giebler, Alexander & Heimpold, Gerhard & Titze, Mirko & Urban-Thielicke, Dana, 2018. "IWH-Subventionsdatenbank: Mikrodaten zu Programmen direkter Unternehmenssubventionen in Deutschland. Datendokumentation," IWH Technical Reports 2/2018, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Lerche, Adrian, 2019. "Investment Tax Credits and the Response of Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203526, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Jain, Manisha & Jehling, Mathias, 2020. "Analysing transport corridor policies: An integrative approach to spatial and social disparities in India," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Schnabel, Isabel & Truger, Achim & Wieland, Volker, 2019. "Den Strukturwandel meistern. Jahresgutachten 2019/20 [Dealing with Structural Change. Annual Report 2019/20]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201920, February.
    8. Krenz, Astrid, 2019. "What drives the location choice of new manufacturing plants in Germany?," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 378, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

    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. Titze, Mirko & Dettmann, Eva & Brachert, Matthias, 2016. "Identifying the effects of place-based policies – Evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145735, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Brachert, Matthias & Dettmann, Eva & Titze, Mirko, 2019. "The regional effects of a place-based policy – Causal evidence from Germany," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Dettmann, Eva & Weyh, Antje & Titze, Mirko, 2017. "Who benefits from GRW? Heterogeneous effects of investment subsidies in Saxony Anhalt," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168158, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    5. Dettmann, Eva & Weyh, Antje & Titze, Mirko, 2018. "Heterogeneous effects of investment grants - Evidence from a new measurement approach," IAB-Discussion Paper 201815, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Chiara Criscuolo & Ralf Martin & Henry G. Overman & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Some Causal Effects of an Industrial Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 48-85, January.
    7. Stefaan Decramer & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2016. "The effectiveness of investment subsidies: evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1007-1032, December.
    8. Maximilian v. Ehrlich & Tobias Seidel, 2018. "The Persistent Effects of Place-Based Policy: Evidence from the West-German Zonenrandgebiet," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 344-374, November.
    9. Ramboer, Sander & Reynaerts, Jo, 2020. "Indecent proposals: Estimating the impact of regional state aid through EU guideline compliance," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Bernini, Cristina & Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2017. "Public subsidies, TFP and efficiency: A tale of complex relationships," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 751-767.
    11. Lerche, Adrian, 2019. "Investment Tax Credits and the Response of Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203526, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Augusto Cerqua & Guido Pellegrini, 2014. "Beyond the SUTVA: how policy evaluations change when we allow for interactions among firms," Working Papers 2/14, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    13. Dettmann, Eva & Titze, Mirko & Weyh, Antje, 2017. "Who benefits from GRW? Heterogeneous employment effects of investment subsidies in Saxony Anhalt," IWH Discussion Papers 27/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    14. Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2018. "Local policy effects at a time of economic crisis," MPRA Paper 85621, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Augusto Cerqua & Guido Pellegrini, 2017. "Industrial policy evaluation in the presence of spillovers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 671-686, October.
    16. Chaurey, Ritam & Le, Duong Trung, 2018. "Infrastructure Grants and the Performance of Microenterprises," IZA Discussion Papers 11749, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Muraközy, Balázs & Telegdy, Álmos, 2023. "The effects of EU-funded enterprise grants on firms and workers," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 216-234.
    18. Kugler Franziska & Schwerdt Guido & Wößmann Ludger, 2014. "Ökonometrische Methoden zur Evaluierung kausaler Effekte der Wirtschaftspolitik," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 105-132, June.
    19. Falck, Oliver & Koenen, Johannes & Lohse, Tobias, 2019. "Evaluating a place-based innovation policy: Evidence from the innovative Regional Growth Cores Program in East Germany," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Federico Cingano & Filippo Palomba & Paolo Pinotti & Enrico Rettore, 2022. "Making Subsidies Work: Rules vs. Discretion," CESifo Working Paper Series 9560, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    evaluation; industrial policy; regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General
    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ces:ceswps:_5901. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.