Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234992 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
EIB Working Papers No. 2021/06
Publisher: 
European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg
Abstract: 
We utilize several unique firm-level datasets in order to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the government support aiming to curb the economic consequences of the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. The results, drawing on the experience of a small open European country (Slovakia), suggest the distributed COVID-19 subsidies save non-negligible number of jobs and sustain economic activity during the first wave of the pandemic. General distribution rules designed on the fly may bring close to optimal results, as relatively more productive, privately owned, foreign-demand oriented firms are prioritized and firms with a higher environmental footprint or zombie firms record a relatively lower chance of obtaining government funding. By assuming constant cost elasticities to sales, we show that the pandemic deteriorates strongly firm profits and increases significantly the share of illiquid and insolvent firms. Government wage subsidies somewhat mitigate firm losses and have statistically significant effect, but relatively mild compared to the size of the economic shock. Our estimates also confirm that larger firms, receiving smaller relative size of the support, have more space to cover their additional liquidity needs by increasing trade liabilities or liabilities to affiliated entities, while SMEs face higher risk of insolvencies.
Subjects: 
coronavirus
COVID-19
firm-level
policy measures
wage subsidies
profit
liquidity
solvency
JEL: 
D22
H20
G32
G33
J38
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-861-5040-1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.