The evaluation of the COVID-19 business support policies

This research project studies the effects of business subsidies granted for companies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It compares the goals of these subsidiaries to their performance, and thereby their success. It also studies the effects of the business support policies on the economy, long-term productivity, markets, and competition.

Of the different business support policies, the project studies the effectiveness of both the financial instruments and grants. Regarding the financial support, the study analyses the effects of loans and guarantees granted by Finnvera and loans granted by Business Finland. Regarding the grants, the study focuses on the Business Finland’s disruption financing (BF support), ELY centres’ COVID-19 disruption subsidies and restaurant subsidies paid by KEHA centres, as well as cost subsidies granted by the State Treasury. In addition, the study examines the interaction effects of the financial and grant-based support.

The project provides information on the effects of the subsidies related to the COVID-19 pandemic and specifies policy recommendations on how the measures intended to manage the liquidity crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could be developed.