Absorptive Capacity and the Growth and Investment Effects of Regional Transfers: A Regression Discontinuity Design with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Becker, Sascha O.; Egger, Peter H.; von Ehrlich, Maximilian
• 署名单位: University of Warwick; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of Oxford; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Nottingham; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of Oxford; University of Bern
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.5.4.29
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 29-77
• 关键词: least-squares; FOREIGN-AID; identification; CORRUPTION; inference; empirics

摘要

Researchers often estimate average treatment effects of programs without investigating heterogeneity across units. Yet, individuals, firms, regions, or countries vary in their ability to utilize transfers. We analyze Objective 1 transfers of the EU to regions below a certain income level by way of a regression discontinuity design with systematically varying heterogeneous treatment effects. Only about 30 percent and 21 percent of the regions-those with sufficient human capital and good-enough institutions-are able to turn transfers into faster per capita income growth and per capita investment, respectively. In general, the variance of the treatment effect is much bigger than its mean.