The paper studies the impact of a switch from free to charged highway provision on firm numbers and private sector employment in a panel of Portuguese municipalities covering the period 2007–2013. It exploits the fact that tolls on certain highways in Portugal were unexpectedly introduced in reaction to the sovereign debt crisis to establish causality. Results from a difference-in-differences analysis indicate a significantly negative effect of highway tolls on number of firms and employment in treated municipalities vis-a-vis the comparison group. We also find negative effects of tolls in municipalities not directly traversed by the treated highways, with larger firms and manufacturing firms being most strongly affected.

中文翻译：

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高速公路通行费对私营企业活动的影响——来自自然实验的结果

该论文研究了 2007 年至 2013 年期间葡萄牙城市小组从免费公路提供转向收费公路对企业数量和私营部门就业的影响。它利用葡萄牙某些高速公路的通行费意外引入以应对主权债务危机这一事实来确定因果关系。差异分析的结果表明，与对照组相比，高速公路通行费对受治疗城市的公司数量和就业有显着的负面影响。我们还发现，在处理过的高速公路未直接穿过的城市中，收费的负面影响最大，较大的公司和制造公司受到的影响最大。