We evaluate the effectiveness of local policy efforts to encourage the growth of the solar industry across Chinese cities. We develop novel measures covering all policies since their inception based on text analysis; construct original data on patenting, production and trade; and implement a synthetic-difference-in-difference approach.

We show that city-level subsidies for solar production cause large increases in solar PV output (measured in MegaWatts per Hour), but (with a lag) also raise solar innovation and productivity relative to matched control cities that did not implement such policies.

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