In this paper we estimate the impact of two main enterprise support mechanisms in Portugal between 2008 and 2013, a period in which the country went through a severe recession. We focus on estimating the feasible average treatment effect on the treated, and on achieving a consistent and as efficient as possible estimation (with priority given to consistency). Our results suggest that the two policy mechanisms under analysis produced very different results in the period. We also conclude that even the most successful forms of support were unable to counteract the effect of a cumulation of crises affecting Portugal in the early 2010s.

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