We evaluate a tax-exemption program initiated by the Indian government in 1994 to promote manufacturing in districts designated as industrially backward on the basis of a continuous gradation score that reflected district characteristics in early 1990s. Employing a regression discontinuity design, we find that the program led to a significant increase in firm entry and employment, especially in light manufacturing industries of the better-off backward districts in the short run. However, this was partly driven by spatial displacement of economic activity from neighboring districts that narrowly missed qualifying for the program. ​Further, we do not find the effects of the program to persist after it ended.

我们评估了一项由印度政府于1994年发起的免税计划，以根据反映1990年代初期地区特征的连续等级评分，促进被指定为工业落后地区的制造业。通过使用回归不连续性设计，我们发现该计划导致公司的进入和就业显着增加，特别是在短期内较富裕的落后地区的轻工制造业。但是，部分原因是邻近地区的经济活动在空间上的错位，使该地区差一点错过了该计划的资格。进一步，我们发现该程序结束后没有效果持续存在。