Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/249597 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers No. 1/2022
Publisher: 
Bank of Finland, Helsinki
Abstract: 
We study the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity by matching firm performance outcomes with corresponding firm-level information on government support. Our cross-country evidence for five EU countries shows that the pandemic led to a significant short-term decline in productivity predominantly driven by the within-firm growth component. A thorough comparative analysis of the distribution of employment and overall direct subsidies, considering separately also relative firm-level support and the probability of being supported, reveals several common characteristics. In general, the pandemic support was distributed rather efficiently, i.e. towards "deserving" firms and only marginally towards "zombie" and non-viable firms. However, government subsidies appear to have had a limited effect on aggregate productivity developments.
Subjects: 
Covid-19
productivity
firm-level data
government support
employment subsidies
cross-country analysis
JEL: 
D22
H25
J38
L29
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-952-323-395-9
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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