A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of
government expenditure
Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...
for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having access to essential goods and services while giving businesses the opportunity to stay afloat and/or competitive. Subsidies not only promote long term economic stability but also help governments to respond to economic shocks during a
recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...
or in response to unforeseen shocks, such as the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Subsidies take various forms— such as direct government expenditures,
tax incentives
A tax incentive is an aspect of a government's taxation policy designed to incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity by reducing tax payments.
Tax incentives can have both positive and negative impacts on an economy. Among the po ...
,
soft loan
A soft loan is a loan with a below-market rate of interest. This is also known as ''soft financing''. Sometimes, soft loans provide other concessions to borrowers, such as long repayment periods or interest holidays. Soft loans are usually provi ...
s,
price support
In economics, a price support may be either a subsidy, a production quota, or a price floor, each with the intended effect of keeping the market price of a good higher than the competitive equilibrium level.
In the case of a price control, a pri ...
, and government provision of goods and services. For instance, the government may distribute direct payment subsidies to individuals and households during an economic downturn in order to help its citizens pay their bills and to stimulate economic activity. Here, subsidies act as an effective financial aid issued when the economy experiences economic hardship. They can also be a good policy tool to revise market imperfections when rational and competitive firms fail to produce an optimal market outcome. For example, in an
imperfect market condition, governments can inject subsidies to encourage firms to invest in R&D (research and development). This will not only benefit the firms but also produce some positive externalities such that it benefits the industry in which the firms belong, and most importantly, the society at large.
Although commonly extended from the government, the term subsidy can relate to any type of support – for example from
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
or as implicit. Subsidies come in various forms including: direct (cash grants, interest-free loans) and indirect (
tax break
Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this f ...
s, insurance, low-interest loans,
accelerated depreciation
Accelerated depreciation refers to any one of several methods by which a company, for 'financial accounting' or tax purposes, depreciates a fixed asset in such a way that the amount of depreciation taken each year is higher during the earlier year ...
, rent rebates).
Furthermore, they can be broad or narrow, legal or illegal, ethical or unethical. The most common forms of subsidies are those to the producer or the consumer. Producer/production subsidies ensure producers are better off by either supplying
market price support
Market price support (MPS) is an indicator, developed by the OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded ...
, direct support, or payments to
factors of production
In economics, factors of production, resources, or inputs are what is used in the production process to produce output—that is, goods and services. The utilised amounts of the various inputs determine the quantity of output according to the rela ...
.
Consumer/consumption subsidies commonly reduce the price of goods and services to the consumer. For example, in the US at one time it was cheaper to buy gasoline than bottled water.
All countries use subsidies via national and sub-national entities through different forms such as tax incentives and direct grants. Likewise, subsidies have an economic influence on both a domestic and international level. On a domestic level, subsidies affect the allocation decision of domestic resources,
income distribution
In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes e ...
, and expenditure productivity. On an international level, subsidies may increase or decrease international interaction and integration through trade. For this reason, having a thorough subsidy policy is essential as its inadequacy can potentially lead to financial hardship and problems for not only the poor or low income individuals but the aggregate economy as a whole.
At large, subsidies take up a substantial portion of the government and economy. Amongst
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
countries in 2020, the median of subsidies and other transfers such as social benefits and non-repayable transfers to private and public enterprises was 56.3 percent of total government expenses which was 34.9 percent (weighted average) of GDP in the same year. Yet, the number of subsidy measures in force have been rapidly increasing since 2008.
Types
Production subsidy
A production subsidy encourages suppliers to increase the output of a particular product by partially offsetting the production costs or losses.
The objective of production subsidies is to expand production of a particular product more so that the market would promote but without raising the final price to consumers. This type of subsidy is predominantly found in developed markets.
Other examples of production subsidies include the assistance in the creation of a new firm (
Enterprise Investment Scheme), industry (
industrial policy
Industrial policy is proactive government-led encouragement and development of specific strategic industries for the growth of all or part of the economy, especially in absence of sufficient private sector investments and participation. Historica ...
) and even the development of certain areas (
regional policy). Production subsidies are critically discussed in the literature as they can cause many problems including the additional cost of storing the extra produced products, depressing world market prices, and incentivizing producers to
over-produce
In economics, overproduction, oversupply, excess of supply, or glut refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods along with the possibility of unemployment.
The ...
, for example, a farmer overproducing in terms of his land's
carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the ...
.
Consumer/consumption subsidy
A consumption subsidy is one that subsidizes the behavior of consumers. This type of subsidies are most common in
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
where governments subsidise such things as food, water, electricity and education on the basis that no matter how impoverished, all should be allowed those most basic requirements.
For example, some governments offer "lifeline" rates for electricity, that is, the first increment of electricity each month is subsidized.
Evidence from recent studies suggests that government expenditures on subsidies remain high in many countries, often amounting to several percentage points of GDP. Subsidization on such a scale implies substantial
opportunity cost
In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone where, given limited resources, a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives. Assuming the best choice is made, ...
s. There are at least three compelling reasons for studying government subsidy behavior. First, subsidies are a major instrument of government expenditure policy. Second, on a domestic level, subsidies affect domestic resource allocation decisions, income distribution, and expenditure productivity. A consumer subsidy is a shift in demand as the subsidy is given directly to consumers.
Export subsidy
An export subsidy is a support from the government for products that are exported, as a means of assisting the country's balance of payments.
Usha Haley
Usha C. V. Haley is an American author and academic, currently W. Frank Barton Distinguished Chair of International Business and Professor of Management at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University in the U.S. state of Kans ...
and
George Haley
George T. Haley is an American author and academic, currently a tenured professor of industrial and international marketing at the University of New Haven in the US state of Connecticut. He is also the director of the Center for International I ...
identified the subsidies to manufacturing industry provided by the Chinese government and how they have altered trade patterns.
Traditionally, economists have argued that subsidies benefit consumers but hurt the subsidizing countries. Haley and Haley provided data to show that over the decade after China joined the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
industrial subsidies have helped give China an advantage in industries in which they previously enjoyed no comparative advantage such as the steel, glass, paper, auto parts, and solar industries.
China's shores have also collapsed from overfishing and industrialization, which is why the Chinese government heavily subsidizes its fishermen, who sail the world in search of new grounds.
Export subsidy is known for being abused. For example, some exporters substantially over declare the value of their goods so as to benefit more from the export subsidy. Another method is to export a batch of goods to a foreign country but the same goods will be re-imported by the same trader via a circuitous route and changing the product description so as to obscure their origin. Thus the trader benefits from the export subsidy without creating real trade value to the economy. Export subsidy as such can become a self-defeating and disruptive policy.
Adam Smith observed that special government subsidies enabled exporters to sell abroad at substantial ongoing losses. He did not regard that as a sound and sustainable policy. That was because "… under normal industrial-commercial conditions their own interests soon oblige loss-making businesses to deploy their capital in other ways – or to move into markets where the sales prices do cover the supply costs and yield ordinary profits. Like other mercantilist schemes and devices, export bounties are a means of trying to force business capital into channels it would not naturally enter. The schemes are invariably costly and damaging in various ways."
Import subsidy
An import subsidy is support from the government for products that are imported. Rarer than an export subsidy, an import subsidy further reduces the price to consumers for imported goods. Import subsidies have various effects depending on the subject. For example, consumers in the importing country are better off and experience an increase in consumer welfare due to the decrease in price of the imported goods, as well as the decrease in price of the domestic substitute goods. Conversely, the consumers in the exporting country experience a decrease in consumer welfare due to an increase in the price of their domestic goods. Furthermore, producers of the importing country experience a loss of welfare due to a decrease in the price for the goods in their market, while on the other side, the exporters of the producing country experience an increase in well-being due to the increase in demand. Ultimately, the import subsidy is rarely used due to an overall loss of welfare for the country due to a decrease in domestic production and a reduction in production throughout the world. However, that can result in a redistribution of income.
Employment subsidy
Employment or wage subsidies keep the employment relationship ongoing even during
financial crisis
A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...
. It is particularly beneficial for enterprises to recover quickly after a temporary suspension following a crisis. Workers are prevented from losing their jobs and other associated employment benefits such as annual leave entitlements and retirement pensions.
Employment subsidies allow individual beneficiaries a minimum standard of living at the very least. However, less than half of active jobseekers in around 50% of OECD countries receive unemployment support. The effect of employment subsidies may not be evident immediately. When employers received grants to subside a substantial part of the wages for retaining their employees or to create new jobs during severe recessions such as the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. , there were minor impacts on employment during the first year. However, the subsidy began to yield positive effects on employment, particularly a decrease in the unemployment rate, in the second year as employers began to properly utilise the subsidy.
Tax subsidy
Tax subsidies, also known as tax breaks or
tax expenditures
A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax c ...
, are a way for governments to achieve certain outcomes without directly providing cash payments. By offering tax breaks, the government can incentivize behavior that is beneficial to the economy or society as a whole. Tax subsidies can also have negative consequences.
One type of tax subsidy is a health tax deduction, which allows individuals or businesses to deduct their health expenses from their taxable income. This can be seen as a way to incentivize people to prioritize their health and well-being. However, it can also create distortions in the economy by encouraging people to spend more on health care than they otherwise would.
Another type of tax subsidy is related to
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
.
Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) is a particular form of tax subsidy that involves companies shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions in order to reduce their overall tax burden. The
is a treaty signed by half the nations of the world aimed at preventing this type of tax avoidance.
While tax subsidies can be effective in achieving certain outcomes, they are also less transparent than direct cash payments and can be difficult to undo. Some argue that tax breaks disproportionately benefit the wealthy and large corporations, further exacerbating income inequality. Therefore, it is important for governments to carefully consider the potential consequences of offering tax subsidies and ensure that they are targeted towards achieving the greatest public good.
Tax subsidies can have unintended consequences, such as creating market distortions that favor certain industries or companies over others. For example, if a government offers tax breaks to incentivize investment in renewable energy, it may lead to a glut of renewable energy projects and an oversupply of energy in the market. This, in turn, can lead to lower prices for energy and financial losses for investors.
Tax subsidies can be difficult to monitor and enforce, which can lead to abuse and fraud. Companies may claim tax breaks for activities that do not qualify, or may use complex legal structures to shift profits to lower tax jurisdictions. This can result in lost revenue for governments and a lack of fairness in the tax system.
Despite these concerns, tax subsidies remain a popular tool for governments to promote various policy objectives, such as economic growth, job creation, and
environmental sustainability
Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
. The use of tax subsidies is often debated in political circles, with some arguing that they are necessary to support certain industries or to incentivize certain behaviors, while others argue that they create inefficiencies and distortions in the economy.
In conclusion, tax subsidies are a powerful tool for governments to achieve policy goals, but they come with their own set of challenges and limitations. It is important for policymakers to carefully consider the potential unintended consequences of tax subsidies and to design them in a way that maximizes their benefits while minimizing their costs. Additionally, strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are needed to ensure that tax subsidies are used appropriately and do not result in abuse or fraud.
Transport subsidies
Some governments subsidise transport, especially rail and bus transport, which decrease congestion and pollution compared to cars. In the EU,
rail subsidies
Many countries offer subsidies to their railways because of the social and economic benefits that it brings. The economic benefits can greatly assist in funding the rail network. Those countries usually also fund or subsidize road construction, and ...
are around €73 billion, and Chinese subsidies reach $130 billion.
Publicly owned airports can be an indirect subsidy if they lose money. The European Union, for instance, criticizes Germany for its high number of money-losing airports that are used primarily by
low cost carrier
A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...
s, characterizing the arrangement as an illegal subsidy.
In many countries, roads and highways are paid for through general revenue, rather than tolls or other dedicated sources that are paid only by road users, creating an indirect subsidy for road transportation. The fact that long-distance buses in Germany do not pay tolls has been called an indirect subsidy by critics, who point to track access charges for railways.
Energy subsidies
Fossil fuels
Housing subsidies
Housing subsidies are designed to promote the construction industry and homeownership. As of 2018, U.S housing subsidies total around $15 billion per year. Housing subsidies can come in two types; assistance with down payment and interest rate subsidies. The
deduction of mortgage interest from the federal income tax accounts for the largest interest rate subsidy. Additionally, the federal government will help low-income families with the down payment, coming to $10.9 million in 2008.
As a housing policy tool, housing subsidies also help low income individuals gain and maintain liveable residency by easing the cost burdens of housing for low income individuals and households. However, some policy makers and experts believe they are costly to implement and may even reduce incentives for beneficiaries to participate in the labour market. In the contrary, certain literatures have found that subsidy cuts do not encourage employment or participation among beneficiaries. For example, research by Daniel Borbely found that reducing housing subsidies did not increase employment and labour force participation. Though, he also added that claimants relocated to other areas of the rental market to maintain their benefits.
Nonetheless, the most common method for providing housing subsidies is via direct payments to renters by covering a part of their rent on the private rent market. This method of direct transfer of housing subsidies is often referred to as "housing vouchers". In the United States, the so-called Section 8 is a direct payment program subsidising the largest amount of money to renters for rental assistance.
Environmental externalities
While conventional subsidies require financial support, many economists have described implicit subsidies in the form of
untaxed environmental
externalities
In economics, an externality is an indirect cost (external cost) or indirect benefit (external benefit) to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party's (or parties') activity. Externalities can be considered as unpriced ...
.
These externalities include things such as pollution from vehicle emissions,
pesticides
Pesticides are substances that are used to pest control, control pest (organism), pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for a ...
, or other sources.
A 2015 report studied the implicit subsidies accruing to 20 fossil fuel companies. It estimated that the societal costs from downstream emissions and pollution attributable to these companies were substantial.
The report spans the period 2008–2012 and notes that: "for all companies and all years, the economic cost to society of their emissions was greater than their after‐tax profit, with the single exception of
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...
in 2008."
Pure coal companies fare even worse: "the economic cost to society exceeds total revenue (employment, taxes, supply purchases, and indirect employment) in all years, with this cost varying between nearly $2 and nearly $9 per $1 of revenue."
Categorising subsidies
Direct and indirect
The first important classification of subsidies are direct and indirect subsidies. Subsidies are categorised as direct when it involves actual cash outlays targeted towards a specified individual or household. Popular examples includes cash grants and interest-free loans. Subsidies can also be classified as indirect when they do not involve actual payments. An example would be an increase in disposable income arising from a decrease in price of an essential good or service that the government has enforced in a form of monetary support. In contrast, a decrease in the price of a good or service may lead to an increase in revenue for producers earned from the heightened demand by consumers.
The use of indirect subsidies such as price controls is widespread among developing economies and emerging markets as a necessary tool for social policy. It has proven to be effective in many cases but price controls have a potential to dampen investment activity and growth, cause heavy fiscal burdens for the government, and may even complicate the optimal performance of monetary policy. To prevent the undesirable negative effects, price control regimes may be replaced by creating social safety nets and proposing sound reforms to encourage competition and growth.
Production and consumption
Another important classification of subsidies are producer/production subsidies and consumer/consumption subsidies. Production subsidies are designed to ensure producers are advantaged by creating fluid market activity through other market control mechanisms or by providing cash payments for factors of production. Consumption subsidies benefit consumers typically through a reduction in the market price of goods and services. They are commonly used by governments of many developing countries in an attempt to secure the most basic needs for its population.
Broad and narrow
These various subsidies can be divided into broad and narrow. Narrow subsidies are those monetary transfers that are easily identifiable and have a clear intent. They are commonly characterised by a monetary transfer between governments and institutions or businesses and individuals. A classic example is a government payment to a farmer.
Monetary and non-monetary
Conversely broad subsidies include both monetary and non-monetary subsidies and is often difficult to identify.
A broad subsidy is less attributable and less transparent. Environmental externalities are the most common type of broad subsidy.
Economic effects

Competitive equilibrium is a state of balance between buyers and suppliers, in which the quantity demanded of a good is the quantity supplied at a specified price. When the price falls the quantity demand exceeds the equilibrium quantity, conversely, a reduction in the supply of a good beyond equilibrium quantity implies an increase in the price. The effect of a subsidy is to shift the supply or demand curve to the right (i.e. increases the supply or demand) by the amount of the subsidy. If a consumer is receiving the subsidy, a lower price of a good resulting from the marginal subsidy on consumption increases demand, shifting the demand curve to the right. If a supplier is receiving the subsidy, an increase in the price (revenue) resulting from the marginal subsidy on production results increases supply, shifting the supply curve to the right.
Assuming the market is in a perfectly competitive equilibrium, a subsidy increases the supply of the good beyond the equilibrium competitive quantity. The imbalance creates deadweight loss. Deadweight loss from a subsidy is the amount by which the cost of the subsidy exceeds the gains of the subsidy.
The magnitude of the deadweight loss is dependent on the size of the subsidy. This is considered a
market failure
In neoclassical economics, market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not Pareto efficient, often leading to a net loss of economic value.Paul Krugman and Robin Wells Krugman, Robin Wells (2006 ...
, or inefficiency.
Subsidies targeted at goods in one country, by lowering the price of those goods, make them more competitive against foreign goods, thereby reducing foreign competition.
As a result, many developing countries cannot engage in foreign trade, and receive lower prices for their products in the global market. This is considered protectionism: a government policy to erect trade barriers in order to protect domestic industries. The problem with
protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...
arises when industries are selected for nationalistic reasons (infant-industry), rather than to gain a comparative advantage. The market distortion, and reduction in social welfare, is the logic behind the World Bank policy for the removal of subsidies in developing countries.
[Amegashie, J. A. (2006). The Economics of Subsidies. Crossroads , 6 (2), 7-15.]
Subsidies create spillover effects in other economic sectors and industries. A subsidized product sold in the world market lowers the price of the good in other countries. Since subsidies result in lower revenues for producers of foreign countries, they are a source of tension between the United States, Europe and poorer developing countries.
While subsidies may provide immediate benefits to an industry, in the long-run they may prove to have unethical, negative effects. Subsidies are intended to support public interest, however, they can violate ethical or legal principles if they lead to higher consumer prices or discriminate against some producers to benefit others.
For example, domestic subsidies granted by individual US states may be unconstitutional if they discriminate against out-of-state producers, violating the Privileges and Immunities Clause or the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
Depending on their nature, subsidies are discouraged by international trade agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). This trend, however, may change in the future, as needs of sustainable development and environmental protection could suggest different interpretations regarding energy and
renewable energy subsidies. In its July 2019 report,
Going for Growth 2019: The time for reform is now, the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
suggests that countries make better use of environmental taxation, phase out agricultural subsidies and environmentally harmful tax breaks.
Preventing fraud
In the Netherlands,
audits
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...
are performed to verify whether the funds that have been received has indeed been spent legally (and all requirements of the subsidy provider have been attained), for the purpose intended. It hence prevents
fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
.
Perverse subsidies
Definitions
Although subsidies can be important, many are "
perverse", in the sense of having adverse
unintended consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...
. To be "perverse", subsidies must exert effects that are demonstrably and significantly adverse both economically and environmentally.
A subsidy rarely, if ever, starts perverse, but over time a legitimate efficacious subsidy can become perverse or illegitimate if it is not withdrawn after meeting its goal or as political goals change. Perverse subsidies are now so widespread that as of 2007 they amounted $2 trillion per year in the six most subsidised sectors alone (agriculture, fossil fuels, road transportation, water, fisheries and forestry).
Effects
The detrimental effects of perverse subsidies are diverse in nature and reach. Case-studies from differing sectors are highlighted below but can be summarised as follows.
Directly, they are expensive to governments by directing resources away from other legitimate should priorities (such as environmental conservation, education, health, or infrastructure),
[Is That a Good State/Local Economic Development Deal? A Checklist]
(2014-06-03), ''Naked Capitalism
Naked Capitalism is a liberal American financial news and analysis group blog. Susan Webber, the principal of Aurora Advisors Incorporated, a management-consulting firm based in New York City, launched the site in late 2006, using the pen name Yve ...
'' ultimately reducing the fiscal health of the government.
Indirectly, they cause
environmental degradation
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
(
exploitation of resources, pollution, loss of landscape, misuse and overuse of supplies) which, as well as its fundamental damage, acts as a further brake on economies; tend to benefit the few at the expense of the many, and the rich at the expense of the poor; lead to further polarization of development between the Northern and Southern hemispheres; lower global market prices; and undermine investment decisions reducing the pressure on businesses to become more efficient.
Over time the latter effect means support becomes enshrined in human behaviour and business decisions to the point where people become reliant on, even addicted to, subsidies, "locking" them into society.
Consumer attitudes do not change and become out-of-date, off-target and inefficient;
furthermore, over time people feel a sense of historical right to them.
Implementation
Perverse subsidies are not tackled as robustly as they should be. Principally, this is because they become "locked" into society, causing bureaucratic roadblocks and institutional inertia.
When cuts are suggested many argue (most fervently by those "entitled", special interest groups and
political lobbyists) that it will disrupt and harm the lives of people who receive them, distort domestic
competitiveness
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...
curbing trade opportunities, and increase unemployment.
Individual governments recognise this as a "
prisoner's dilemma
The prisoner's dilemma is a game theory thought experiment involving two rational agents, each of whom can either cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual gain. The dilemma arises from the fact that while def ...
" – insofar as that even if they wanted to adopt subsidy reform, by acting unilaterally they fear only negative effects will ensue if others do not follow.
Furthermore, cutting subsidies, however perverse they may be, is considered a vote-losing policy.
Reform of perverse subsidies is at a propitious time. The current economic conditions mean governments are forced into fiscal constraints and are looking for ways to reduce activist roles in their economies.
There are two main reform paths: unilateral and multilateral. Unilateral agreements (one country) are less likely to be undertaken for the reasons outlined above, although New Zealand,
Russia, Bangladesh and others represent successful examples.
Multilateral actions by several countries are more likely to succeed as this reduces competitiveness concerns, but are more complex to implement requiring greater international collaboration through a body such as the
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
.
Irrespective of the path, the aim of policymakers should be to: create alternative policies that target the same issue as the original subsidies but better; develop subsidy removal strategies allowing market-discipline to return; introduce "sunset" provisions that require remaining subsidies to be re-justified periodically; and make perverse subsidies more transparent to taxpayers to alleviate the "vote-loser" concern.
Examples
Agricultural subsidies
Support for agriculture dates back to the 19th century. It was developed extensively in the EU and US across the two World Wars and the Great Depression to protect domestic food production, but remains important across the world today.
In 2005, US farmers received $14 billion and EU farmers $47 billion in
agricultural subsidies
An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural products, and influence the ...
.
Today, agricultural subsidies are defended on the grounds of helping farmers to maintain their livelihoods. The majority of payments are based on outputs and inputs and thus favour the larger producing agribusinesses over the small-scale farmers.
In the US nearly 30% of payments go to the top 2% of farmers.
By subsidising inputs and outputs through such schemes as "yield based subsidisation", farmers are encouraged to over-produce using intensive methods, including using more fertilizers and pesticides; grow high-yielding
monocultures
In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultur ...
; reduce
crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the pro ...
; shorten fallow periods; and promote exploitative land use change from forests, rainforests and wetlands to agricultural land.
These all lead to severe environmental degradation, including adverse effects on soil quality and productivity including
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
, nutrient supply and salinity which in turn affects carbon storage and cycling, water retention and
drought resistance
In botany, drought tolerance is the ability by which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tole ...
; water quality including pollution, nutrient deposition and
eutrophication
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...
of waterways, and lowering of water tables; diversity of flora and fauna including indigenous species both directly and indirectly through the destruction of habitats, resulting in a genetic wipe-out.
Cotton growers in the US reportedly receive half their income from the government under the
Farm Bill of 2002. The subsidy payments stimulated
overproduction
In economics, overproduction, oversupply, excess of supply, or glut refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods along with the possibility of unemployment.
T ...
and resulted in a record cotton harvest in 2002, much of which had to be sold at very reduced prices in the global market.
For foreign producers, the depressed cotton price lowered their prices far below the break-even price. In fact, African farmers received 35 to 40 cents per pound for cotton, while US cotton growers, backed by government agricultural payments, received 75 cents per pound. Developing countries and trade organizations argue that poorer countries should be able to export their principal commodities to survive, but protectionist laws and payments in the United States and Europe prevent these countries from engaging in international trade opportunities.
Fisheries
Today, much of the world's major fisheries are
overexploited
Overexploitation, also called overharvesting or ecological overshoot, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to ...
; in 2002, the
WWF estimate this at approximately 75%. Fishing subsidies include "direct assistant to fishers; loan support programs; tax preferences and insurance support; capital and infrastructure programs; marketing and price support programs; and fisheries management, research, and conservation programs."
They promote the expansion of
fishing fleet
A fishing fleet is an aggregate of commercial fishing Ship, vessels. The term may be used of all vessels operating out of a particular port, all vessels engaged in a particular type of fishing (as in the "tuna fishing fleet"), or all fishing vessel ...
s, the supply of larger and longer nets, larger yields and indiscriminate catch, as well as mitigating risks which encourages further investment into large-scale operations to the disfavour of the already struggling small-scale industry.
Collectively, these result in the continued overcapitalization and overfishing of marine fisheries.
There are four categories of
fisheries subsidies. First are direct financial transfers, second are indirect financial transfers and services. Third, certain forms of intervention and fourth, not intervening. The first category regards direct payments from the government received by the fisheries industry. These typically affect profits of the industry in the short term and can be negative or positive. Category two pertains to government intervention, not involving those under the first category. These subsidies also affect the profits in the short term but typically are not negative. Category three includes intervention that results in a negative short-term economic impact, but economic benefits in the long term. These benefits are usually more general societal benefits such as the environment. The final category pertains to inaction by the government, allowing producers to impose certain production costs on others. These subsidies tend to lead to positive benefits in the short term but negative in the long term.
Manufacturing subsidies
A survey of manufacturing in Britain found government subsidies had had various unintended dysfunctional consequences. The subsidies had usually been selective or discriminatory – benefiting some companies at the expense of others. Government money in the form of grants and awards of production and R&D contracts had gone to advanced and viable firms as well as old uneconomic enterprises. However, the main recipients had been larger, established companies – while most of the firms pioneering radical technical-product developments with long-term economic growth potential had been new small enterprises.
The study concluded that instead of providing subsidies, governments wanting to benefit industrial-technological development and performance should lower standard rates of business taxation, raise tax allowances for investments in new plant, equipment and products, and remove obstacles to market competition and customer choice.
Others
The US National Football League's (
NFL) profits have topped records at $11 billion, the highest of all sports. The NFL had tax-exempt status until voluntarily relinquishing it in 2015, and new stadiums have been built with public subsidies.
[Clegg, Jonathan (28 April 2015).]
"NFL to End Tax-Exempt Status."
''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
The
Commitment to Development Index
The Commitment to Development Index (CDI), published annually by the Center for Global Development, ranks the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Rich and poor ...
(CDI), published by the
Center for Global Development
The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development.
History
It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, directo ...
, measures the effect that subsidies and trade barriers actually have on the undeveloped world. It uses trade, along with six other components such as aid or investment, to rank and evaluate developed countries on policies that affect the undeveloped world. It finds that the richest countries spend $106 billion per year subsidizing their own farmers – almost exactly as much as they spend on foreign aid.
Short list of subsidies
*
Agricultural subsidy
An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural products, and influence the ...
*
Fisheries subsidy
*
Export subsidy
Export subsidy is a government policy to encourage export of goods and discourage sale of goods on the domestic Market (economics), market through direct payments, low-cost loans, tax relief for exporters, or government-financed international adve ...
*
Energy subsidy
*
Fossil fuel subsidies
Fossil fuel subsidies are energy subsidies on fossil fuels. Under a narrow definition, fossil fuel subsidies totalled around $1.5 trillion in 2022. Under more expansive definition, they totalled around $7 trillion. They may be tax breaks on c ...
(oil subsidies, coal subsidies, gas subsidies)
*
Photovoltaics subsidy
*
Party subsidies
*
Wage subsidy
A wage subsidy is a payment to workers by the state, made either directly or through their employers. Its purposes are to redistribute income and to obviate the welfare trap attributed to other forms of relief, thereby reducing unemployment. It is ...
*
Artist subsidy (Netherlands)
An Artist Subsidy in the Netherlands refers to three former subsidy programs for Dutch artists; the BKR, the SBBK, and the WW&IK. Under these programs, artists exchanged their artworks to the organizations in return for cash subsidies. These art ...
See also
*
Agricultural subsidy
An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural products, and influence the ...
*
Cross subsidization Cross subsidization is the practice of charging higher prices to one type of consumers to artificially lower prices for another group. State trading enterprises with monopoly control over marketing agricultural exports are sometimes alleged to cros ...
*
Cultural subsidy
*
Energy subsidy
*
Subsidization of company cars
*
Federal government
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
*
Audit software in governmental procurement
*
Municipal services
Municipal services or city services refer to basic services that residents of a city expect the local government to provide in exchange for the taxes which citizens pay. Basic city services may include sanitation (both sewer and refuse), wa ...
*
Perverse incentive
The phrase "perverse incentive" is often used in economics to describe an incentive structure with undesirable results, particularly when those effects are unexpected and contrary to the intentions of its designers.
The results of a perverse in ...
*
Rail subsidies
Many countries offer subsidies to their railways because of the social and economic benefits that it brings. The economic benefits can greatly assist in funding the rail network. Those countries usually also fund or subsidize road construction, and ...
*
Stadium subsidy
*
Tax exemption
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
*
Wage subsidy
A wage subsidy is a payment to workers by the state, made either directly or through their employers. Its purposes are to redistribute income and to obviate the welfare trap attributed to other forms of relief, thereby reducing unemployment. It is ...
References
Further reading
* OECD (2001) Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Policy Issues and Challenges. France: OECD Productions. http://www.inecc.gob.mx/descargas/dgipea/harmful_subsidies.pdf
External links
Another Day, Another Bad Incentive Deal(2014-06-06), ''
Naked Capitalism
Naked Capitalism is a liberal American financial news and analysis group blog. Susan Webber, the principal of Aurora Advisors Incorporated, a management-consulting firm based in New York City, launched the site in late 2006, using the pen name Yve ...
''
{{Authority control
Fiscal policy
Grants (money)
Payments