The impact of government support on rural grocery stores—A regression discontinuity approach

Abstract

We evaluate a place-based policy aimed at commercial service providers. In 2016, the Swedish government introduced special operating support for grocery stores in remote rural areas to slow down the process of store closures. We estimate the local causal effect in a regression discontinuity design framework using the fact that only stores located at least 15 km away from another store were eligible for the support. The results indicate a 15%–20% increase in store survival rates due to the support. For surviving stores, the effects on employment are negative, possibly due to labor-saving investments.