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Industrial policy and firm heterogeneity

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  • Barros,P.P.
  • Nilssen,T.

    (University of Oslo, Department of Economics)

Abstract

Our concern is about a firm-specific industrial policy. When R&D subsidies or taxes are differentiated among firms, the question arises which firms in an industry should receive such support. We analyse a situation where firms differ in their R&D technologies in two distinct ways: they differ both in the costs of performing R&D activities and in the output obtained from such activities. The introduction of several domestic firms creates a corrective motive for government intervention with the firms' R&D activities in addition to Spencer and Brander's strategic motive. We find that the optimal firm-specific industrial policy is affected differently by the two sources of firm heterogeneity. Moreover, a change in a firm's R&D productivity has an ambiguous effect on the optimal policy towards the firm.
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Suggested Citation

  • Barros,P.P. & Nilssen,T., 1999. "Industrial policy and firm heterogeneity," Memorandum 02/1999, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:1999_002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Afonso Planas Raposo de Almeida Costa & Pedro Barros, 2012. "Does a Tougher Competition Policy Reduce or Promote Investment?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 119-141, March.
    3. Marc Escrihuela-Villar, 2008. "Innovation And Market Concentration With Asymmetric Firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 195-207.
    4. Hadjikhani, Amjad & Lee, Joong-Woo & Ghauri, Pervez N., 2008. "Network view of MNCs' socio-political behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 912-924, September.
    5. Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Khemarat Talerngsri Teerasuwannajak, 2009. "R&D Productivity and Intellectual Property Rights Protection Regimes," Working Paper series 43_09, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    6. Pedro P. Barros & Tore Nilssen, 1999. "The Effect of Firm Heterogeneity on R&D Competition," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 25, pages 87-93.
    7. Anita Michalsen, 2012. "R&D policy in a vertically related industry," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(8), pages 737-751, November.
    8. Kazuhiro Takauchi, 2011. "Rules of origin and international R&D rivalry," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2319-2332.
    9. Naoto Jinji & Tsuyoshi Toshimitsu, 2014. "Strategic Investment Subsidies under Asymmetric Oligopoly," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 490-501, August.
    10. Dandan Xu & Yuting Liu, 2024. "The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure in the “Carbon Trading Pilot” Project on the Financial Performance of Listed Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-25, September.
    11. Noriaki Matsushima & Ren-Jye Liu, 2012. "Quality Improvement to Meet Competitive Fringe," ISER Discussion Paper 0854, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    12. Seung‐Gyu Jo, 2010. "Non‐Uniform Strategic Trade Policy And Aggregate Profit Creation Effect," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(5), pages 644-662, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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