The economics of subsidies for R&D: Implications for reform of EU state aid rules

The primary aim of the reform of EU rules on research, development and innovation for the period 2014-20 is to ensure that aid stimulates more research and that it is kept to the minimum necessary. This paper develops a simple model that identifies a number of problems in the public funding of private research and demonstrates that the determination of the optimum subsidy for research is a complex task. The results suggest that research subsidies should be allocated in a way that reduces the amount of subsidy per recipient firm and ensures that the subsidies go to more efficient firms.