EVA-KULT

To strengthen evaluation culture in the areas of corporate subsidies and financial market interventions permanently, convincing pilot studies are required to demonstrate the feasibility of such projects. The proposed project comprehensively evaluates the impact of investment support programmes, i.e. at the level of the regions and establishments as well as in interaction with other subsidy programmes (particularly research and development programmes). The project is organised into 5 work packages:

1. Systematic description of subsidy programmes
2. Impact analysis of investment grants at the firm level
3. Evaluation of the interaction between different forms of subsidy programmes
4. Impact analysis at the macro level
5. Knowledge transfer with the scientific community, administrative staff, policy-makers and a broader public

The discussion on good practices in evidence-based policy evaluations highlights three interacting dimensions: i) the application of causal impact analysis; ii) the provision of data and information on administrative funding processes; and iii) intensive knowledge transfer between policy-makers, the scientific community and the public. Actual evaluation practice in the field of subsidy programmes reveals that the degree of professionalisation is underdeveloped in all of these dimensions. The IWH-CEP contributes to overcome these shortcomings. It combines activities of high quality research and policy advice with teaching efforts. The innovativeness of our project follows Schumpeter’s (1942) idea of recombining existing resources. By bringing together the implementation of methods for causal impact analysis, the provision of full data on funding processes and an intensive knowledge transfer between policymakers, the scientific community, and the public, we produce credible policy advice that lays the ground for reproducibility, replicability, and generalisability of results.

Target groups of the work of the IWH-CEP are members of the scientific community, policymakers/administrative staff, students and the general public. First, members of the IWH-CEP will present and discuss their findings in the scientific community. Assessing causal impact of subsidy programmes provides not only insights into “what works” and “what works best,” but also reveals impact channels of policy interventions. Second, the IWH-CEP produces evidence-based policy reports that serve as input for good policy-making and for improving administrative processes. The IWH-CEP is involved in different evaluation projects. Moreover, members of the IWH-CEP were invited to expert hearings to the European Commission, the German Federal Chancellery, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and ministries at the level of the Federal States. Third, the members of the IWH-CEP will also engage in teaching efforts, thus familiarising students, policy-makers/administrative staff, and journalists with techniques of causal impact analysis and interpretation of evaluation reports.