Do Tax Incentives Increase Firm Innovation? An RD Design for R&D, Patents, and Spillovers

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2023
Volume: 15
Issue: 4
Pages: 486-521

Authors (5)

Antoine Dechezleprêtre (not in RePEc) Elias Einiö (not in RePEc) Ralf Martin (London School of Economics (LS...) Kieu-Trang Nguyen (not in RePEc) John Van Reenen (London School of Economics (LS...)

Score contribution per author:

0.804 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We present causal evidence of R&D tax incentives' positive impacts on a firm's own innovation and that of its technological neighbors. Exploiting a change in size-based eligibility thresholds for R&D tax relief, we implement a Regression Discontinuity Design using administrative data. We find significant effects of tax relief on (quality-adjusted) patenting (and R&D) that persist up to seven years, and evidence of R&D spillovers on the innovation of technologically close firms. We can rule out elasticities of patenting with respect to R&D user cost of under 2 at the 5 percent level and show that our large effects are driven by financially constrained treated firms.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:486-521
Journal Field
General
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-25