Do Cash Windfalls Affect Wages? Evidence from R&D Grants to Small Firms
利用断点回归设计，研究发现政府研发补助使员工年均收入立即增加2.9%，但仅惠及在职员工且随工龄增长；证据支持企业内部隐性股权融资假说。
Abstract This paper examines how employee earnings respond to a one-time cash flow shock in the form of a government R&D grant. In a regression discontinuity design, we find that the grant immediately increases average annual employee-level earnings by 2.9$\%$. This benefit accrues only to incumbent employees and rises with job tenure. The grant also affects firm growth, but the initial wage patterns do not appear to reflect growth or productivity. Instead, the evidence supports implicit equity financing within the firm, where employees initially accept lower wages from financially constrained firms and earn more when the firm has ability to pay. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.