Project description
The role of corporate connections in industrial policy
The global rise of industrial policy (IP) is redefining state roles in economies, yet a key challenge persists involving industrial groups in policymaking without giving them undue influence. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IPconnect project seeks to address this issue by examining whether bureaucrats’ corporate connections enhance or hinder effective IP design. Focusing on the German Treuhand agency, which aimed to revitalise East Germany’s struggling state-owned enterprises after reunification, the project uses rigorous data to assess the impact of these connections. By evaluating the performance of firms and transaction outcomes, IPconnect’s findings will provide crucial insights into mitigating conflicts of interest in industrial policy, thereby promoting fair regional capital flows.
Objective
The recent rise of industrial policy (IP) worldwide is reshaping the role of the state in the economy. A key challenge for industrial policy is to involve industrial groups in policymaking and implementation without allowing them to dominate the process.
The main objective of this project is to study whether corporate connections of bureaucrats are beneficial or detrimental to the design of IP with the specific objective to promote private capital transfer from one region to another. This project leverages one of the largest state-led investment programs in recent history, employing quasi-experimental methods to credibly estimate causal effects in combination with high quality administrative data. It studies the German Treuhand agency that sought to transform East Germany’s troubled state-owned enterprises suffering from low labour and energy productivity in the wake of the German reunification. The agency’s leaders, recruited from West Germany’s business elite, were tasked with attracting Western capital. However, their close connections to West German businesses raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
This project evaluates the effectiveness of the regional capital flow through connections, first, by assessing the performance of firms acquired by connected and unconnected investors. Second, drawing on detailed data on sales contracts, the project estimates the effect of connections on transaction outcomes. Third, it assess the impact on connections on the performance of corporate investors that participated in the large-scale investment program. The project's findings will be pertinent for the design of institutional policies around the avoidance of conflicts of interest in industrial policy.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.