This paper evaluates how R&D subsidies to the business sector are typically awarded. We identify two sources of ineffciency: the selection based on a ranking of individual projects, rather than complete allocations, and the failure to induce competition among applicants in order to extract and...

This paper provides a conceptual overview of economists' attempts to learn about the effects of taxes on extractive resources. The emphasis is on research methods and techniques, with no attempt to provide a comprehensive tabulation of previous empirical results or policy conclusions regarding...

While in 1996, 12 OECD countries offered R&D tax incentives, in 2008 this number increased to 21. Most countries have opted for level-based instead of incremental R&D tax incentives. This paper takes a critical look at how the effectiveness of R&D tax incentives has been assessed in recent...

A growing interest in R&D tax incentives as a way to sustain research and innovation efforts has given rise to a large number of evaluations. The absence of consensus in the literature about their impact on R&D is intertwined with the variety of underpinning R&D tax incentives designs. Our...

The aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the most crucial determinants of success for firms applying for public R&D grants. Previous studies have been limited to firm level data and mainly tested how firm characteristics affect the allocation of R&D grants. Thereby, they...

According to theory, direct R&D grants should be used for projects with low private returns, high social returns and high risk. R&D tax credits, on the other hand, allow firms to choose projects freely according to their private returns. Building on the standard R&D capital model, I develop a...

A growing interest in R&D tax incentive policies has given rise to a large number of evaluations, which provide contrasting results about their effectiveness. Our meta- analysis aims to explain the heterogeneity found in the R&D tax incentive evaluations by the features of tax incentives. We...

Governments often subsidize private R&D using both direct subsidies and tax incentives. In this paper, I develop a framework for studying their interdependence, which also provides a test for detecting capital market imperfections. I implement two quasi-experimental research designs to examine...