The impact of purchase subsidy phase-out policy on enterprise research and development investment
Evidence from China’s new energy vehicle industry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17832550 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Runjie Fan (0000-0002-6178-9741, Shandong Institute of Business and Technology), Le Bing Zhang (Shandong Institute of Business and Technology), Hao Liu (0000-0002-4971-7315, Central University of Finance and Economics, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41599-026-07245-5 |
| OpenAlex | W7154358732 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
The phase-out of purchase subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs) marks a pivotal shift in China’s industrial policy towards market-driven development. This study investigates the impact of China’s phase-out of the NEV purchase subsidy policy on enterprise research and development (R&D) investment. A government-enterprise sequential game model was constructed, and equilibrium solutions under continuous subsidy and phase-out scenarios were compared. The theoretical analysis indicates that the phase-out policy reduces enterprise R&D investment. Furthermore, panel data from Chinese listed new energy vehicle enterprises between 2009 and 2021 were employed, with the propensity score matching-difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) method applied for empirical analysis. The estimates reveal that the policy significantly reduces R&D investment by an average of 28.14%, corresponding to approximately CNY 112.56 million, among affected enterprises. This negative effect persists through multiple robustness checks and demonstrates an increasing magnitude over time. This paper offers a theoretical foundation for the dynamic optimization of industrial purchase subsidy phase-out policies
New energy · Public policy · Subsidy · Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Innovation Policy and RD
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |