Assessing the effectiveness of State aid Temporary Framework: An analysis on micro-data

04 December 2024 | 12:00 — 13:00

Virtual/Online

FBK-IRVAPP is pleased to invite you to the following seminar: Assessing the effectiveness of State aid Temporary Framework: An analysis on micro-data .

With the participation of Alessandro Sasso (Joint Research Centre)

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of COVID State aid measures on firm performance in Italy and Spain, utilizing national state aid registers combined with balance sheet data from Bureau Van Dijk. The analysis covers a panel of firms from 2015 to 2022, focusing on a range of performance indicators including turnover, total assets, profitability, and employment. A difference-in-differences approach, complemented by propensity score matching weighting, is employed to evaluate the causal effect of the aid by comparing firms that received only COVID aid with those that did not receive any State aid during the period under review. The study examines the heterogeneity of impacts across different categories of firm size and economic sector. The findings indicate that COVID state aid led to a statistically significant increase in turnover and total assets for micro and small firms, particularly in the construction sector, and a positive effect on the profitability of micro firms in Italy two years post-pandemic. However, the aid’s impact on medium and large firms was not significant. The results suggest that the aid was effective in supporting firms through the crisis, with notable differences in the effects between Italy and Spain, potentially due to variations in the timing and implementation of the aid measures.

The seminar is held in English.

Guest Speakers

Alessandro Sasso - Guest Speaker

Joint Research Centre

Alessandro Sasso is a Quantitative Policy Analyst at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, working in the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME). He is also an Honorary Research Associate at The University of Sheffield, School of Medicine and Population Health, where he was employed before. He completed a PhD in Economics at The University of Sheffield in 2018, with a PhD thesis that explored the determinants of gender differences in the Italian labour market.

Registration

Registration to this event is mandatory.

Registration closed on 03/12/2024.

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