This study examines the impact of an expansion of financial support to compensate for the business hour restrictions during the early COVID-19 pandemic on the entry of dine-in restaurants in the market. During this period, the local governments provided financial support to all restaurants to alleviate the urgent need for relief. This support was given regardless of their past performance, and it coincidentally provided an opportunity for new entrants that met certain criteria to receive support. Based on Japanese administrative data and a difference-in-differences estimation, our study shows that the expansion of financial support led to an increase in the number of dine-in restaurants. We also observed that the impact is more significant in areas with lower opening and operating costs, but it does not vary based on an index of potential sales. These results confirm that indiscriminate reduction of entry barriers could lead to the entry of less profitable and marginal new firms. Moreover, financial support led to a decrease in restaurant exits, especially of low-productive ones.

本研究探讨了扩大财政支持以弥补 COVID-19 大流行早期的营业时间限制对堂食餐厅进入市场的影响。在此期间，地方政府向各餐馆提供资金支持，缓解救灾燃眉之急。无论他们过去的表现如何，都会给予这种支持，并且巧合的是，它为符合某些标准的新进入者提供了获得支持的机会。根据日本的行政数据和双重差分估计，我们的研究表明，财政支持的扩大导致了堂食餐厅数量的增加。我们还观察到，在开业和运营成本较低的地区，影响更为显着，但它不会根据潜在销售指数而变化。这些结果证实，不加区别地降低进入壁垒可能会导致利润较低和边缘化的新公司进入。此外，财政支持导致餐馆退出减少，尤其是低生产率餐馆。