Richard Harris (University of Durham), Mary Trainor

Government Support and its Impact on Total Factor Productivity in Manufacturing Industry in Northern Ireland, 1983-1997

Manufacturing industry in Northern Ireland receives extensive financial support from government with the objective of improving the economic performance of the plants that are directly assisted. Many studies have tried to assess the impact of such assistance but without the counterfactual evidence it is difficult to ascertain whether or not such support does improve performance. The aim of this paper is to use a unique matched data set to establish if such assistance has made a difference to total factor productivity in Northern Ireland manufacturing plants.

Keywords: Northern Ireland Regional Policy, Selective Financial Assistance, Total Factor Productivity

JEL Codes: D24 L50 R58

Session: 6c   Room 2002   Category: Productivity 2

Paper