Have tax incentives increased R&D investment in equipment manufacturing firms? An empirical study based on the life cycle theory of enterprises

Purpose Tax incentives have a significant impact on the development of equipment manufacturing enterprises in the era of economic transformation. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the impact of tax incentives on R&D investment in the equipment manufacturing industry from the perspective of “enterprise life cycle”, based on data from Chinese equipment manufacturing enterprises from 2011 to 2022. Findings The study finds that: (1) Overall, tax incentives significantly promote the equipment manufacturing industry to increase R&D investment, and this effect remains significant under various robustness tests; (2) The impact of tax incentives on R&D investment differs in different life cycles: firstly, the strongest impact occurs during the maturity period, followed by the decline period, with the weakest impact in the growth period;(3) Further study explores the mechanisms, finding that tax incentives affect profits through internal incentives and compliance effects, and impact costs through externality and deterrence effects, ultimately influencing R&D investment in equipment manufacturing industry. Causal identification through difference-in-difference method is found to be consistent with the conclusion of the benchmark regression; (4) The impact of tax incentives on R&D investment varies among enterprises with different technological levels, industries and life cycles. Originality/value These research results will help the government develop targeted tax incentive policies for different life cycle enterprises, and also improve policy support for other developing countries.