The Causal Effects of R&D Grants: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity
研发补助的因果效应:来自断点回归的证据
Abstract We leverage the discontinuity in the assignment mechanism of the Small and Medium Enterprise Instrument—the first European research and development (R&D) subsidy targeting small firms—to provide the broadest quasi-experimental evidence on R&D grants over both geographical and sectoral scopes. Grants trigger sizable impacts on a wide range of firm-level outcomes. Heterogeneous effects are consistent with grants reducing financial frictions. This reduction is due to…