Efficiency and subsidies: mapping and multidisciplinary analysis

This study aims to assess the roots, the evolution and the influence of literature on subsidies and efficiency in a variety of areas of knowledge such economics, management, business, agricultural policy and environmental sciences. By analysing 1,507 articles authored by 3,410 scientists and with 47,028 cited references and by using co-word analysis tools, different themes dealt with the relationship between subsidies and efficiency were disclosed and examined. The results have shown that efficiency and energy are the two themes that stand out, while subsidies are a secondary theme with a strong connection with efficiency research. Evidence shows that the literature on subsidies and efficiency embodies a relatively new field, which has remarkably consolidated over the last ten years as a research area. However, the roots of this literature are found in articles published between 1971 and 1998. At that time, the theoretical studies, mainly in the area of economics, have defined the main econometric models currently used in several areas of knowledge, including the measurement of subsidies effects on efficiency.