Subsidies
Government payments, tax breaks, or cheap credit that lower producers’ costs or boost purchasers’ demand—common in agriculture, energy, and technology.
Subsidies redirect resources toward favored activities; WTO rules and domestic politics determine who qualifies. They can accelerate scale-up of new industries or lock in inefficient incumbents.
Pair with trade data
Export competitiveness partly reflects hidden subsidies; state-level trade metrics help visualize where subsidized sectors show up in cross-border flows.