Types Of Public Support Research Articles

Catalyzing Investment for Renewable Energy in Developing Countries

This paper aims to present ideas on how to mobilize investment for renewable energy by focusing on the catalytic role of public resources. We review global trends in investment and the barriers to renewable energy investment in developing countries. Following the overview, we examine two types of public support to mobilize resource from the private sector. In the conclusion, we suggest ways to increase support and cooperation in renewable energy.

Linking public support, R&D, innovation and productivity: New evidence from the Spanish food industry

This research provides novel empirical evidence of the relationship between public support for R&D, firms’ R&D expenditure, innovation and productivity in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry. The empirical framework relies on a modified version of the Crépon–Duguet–Mairesse (CDM) model, applied to a sample of 541 Spanish firms over the years from 2008 to 2011 (1910 observations). The first step in our model shows a great impact of public funding; firms receiving national funds invested 54% more in R&D than firms without this type of public support. The share of workers with a degree, and cooperation among firms are also relevant for engaging in R&D in the F&B industry. The second step points out the significant role of R&D expenditure for product and organizational innovation, while we did not find any significant effect for process innovation. The final step reveals that innovation output influences productivity with an elasticity of 0.29 for the innovation variable. Other significant factors affecting labour productivity are the size of the company, investment intensity, international competition, and having foreign participation of over 50% in the company.

Local Ideas, Global Capital and the State: An Exploratory Research About the Start-Up Brasil Program

This paper discusses the institutional arrangement of a new policy created in 2012 by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MSTI) to foster entrepreneurship and innovation: the “Start-Up Brasil” (SUB) program. The policy tries to bring together private firms focused on business assistance and on venture capital (accelerators) and small firms of the information technology field that lack finance and business expertise (start-ups). Based on the functional and descriptive analyzes of the SUB, I discuss how this policy differs from other state actions described by the literature in Brazil and creates incentives for the private sector through the coordination of different public institutions. I also analyze why the policy has one “Chief Operating Officer” and how this is connected to debates on post-Weberian bureaucracies and governance models of public management. In the final part of the paper I identify new questions for further research regarding the democratic control of the policy, the inequalities between accelerators and start-ups and the long-term impacts of this type of public support.

Identifying the nature, magnitude and sources of public support for political parties in Portugal: An individual-level analysis

This article reviews the case of the oft-claimed ‘crisis of parties’ in Portugal, and argues that such controversy rest at least in part on ‘ambiguous’ evidence. We will try to answer three fundamental questions: (1) how do Portuguese citizens view and evaluate political parties? (2) What are the sources of public support for political parties in Portugal? And (3) why does anti-party rhetoric resonate with some citizens, but not others? The analysis of empirical data allows the following conclusions. First, citizens’ attitudes towards the parties have a multi-dimensional nature, so it is possible to distinguish two key dimensions conceptually and empirically: diffuse support and specific support for parties. Second, the two types of public support for parties have different sources at the individual level. Third, in the eyes of the Portuguese citizen, parties became a kind of ‘necessary evil’, being criticised for ‘what they actually do’ and supported for ‘what they are supposed to do’.

The Design of Government Guarantees for Bank Bonds

In 2010 authorities have taken the first steps to end some of the public support measures put in place in response to the financial crisis, starting with government guarantees for bond issues. Financial institutions have made extensive use of this tool, which has been effective in avoiding a further tightening of funding conditions, but this type of public support has, nonetheless, raised some concerns. First, the cost of issuing guaranteed bonds has mainly reflected the characteristics of the sovereign guarantor rather than those of the issuer, thus favouring borrowers with a strong sovereign backing. This situation has the potential to distort competition and create incentives for excessive risk taking. Such effects could have been reduced by the choice of a different fee determination mechanism. Second, the continued availability in 2010 of guarantee schemes, despite a declining overall usage, may be alleviating the pressure on some weak financial institutions to address their weaknesses: the average creditworthiness of banks issuing after mid-2009, when market conditions became more favourable, has sharply declined. JEL Classification: G01, G12, G21, G28. Keywords: financial crisis, policy response to the crisis, government guaranteed bonds, competitive distortions

An Evaluation of the Effect of Public Support in Enhancing Occupational Incorporation of Former Soviet Union Immigrants to Israel: A Longitudinal Study

Does governmental intervention in the form of occupational training and retraining and other forms of assistance improve immigrants' occupational opportunities both as self-employed and as salaried employees? These have been longstanding research and government concerns in societies that face large waves of immigration. This study reports on the research findings of a longitudinal study which sought to examine the effects of governmental support mechanisms on the incorporation of a large immigrant inflow from the former Soviet Union (FSU) high in human capital into the labour market. Three types of public support programmes were investigated: occupational retraining, subsidised salaries for immigrants and support for immigrants in business creation. The research population consisted of 910 new immigrants from the FSU who arrived to Israel in the 1990s; they were interviewed in-depth in 1992 and again in 1994/5. The findings show that the three support mechanisms differ in their contribution to the transferability of human capital of immigrants and their earnings from jobs. They also affect men and women immigrants differently. The question ‘what worked?’ is discussed from three viewpoints: accountability of public programmes, knowledge basis and implementation. A training system approach is used to explain differences in the effects of the three policy instruments on the occupational incorporation of the immigrants.

State Support and Creativity in the Arts: Some New Considerations

Neglected aspects of state support for the arts are discussed through posing two questions. First, “What kind of state is providing that support?” The extent and type of public support and its effects on the arts crucially depends on whether the state is centralised or decentralised, and on whether it is authoritarian or democratic. Second, “How is artistic creativity fostered?” ”Institutional creativity” is best supported by attributing a large role to the market and market-like institutions. “Personal creativity” hinges on intrinsic motivation, which may be crowded out by different types of public support. Important consequences for the public support of the arts follow.