The study evaluates the government's subsidy program for micro and small businesses in Georgia. Firms that submitted business ideas that scored over a predetermined cutoff level received investment subsidies from the program. To analyze the effect of public support on firm-level financial and economic results, we use a sharp discontinuity design applied to firm-level survey data of beneficiary and non-beneficiary enterprises. The survey data is complemented by administrative data collected by the implementing agency, Enterprise Georgia. We find a significant positive impact on participating firms' investment in the program's first year. We also find weak evidence of public subsidies crowding out private investments in subsequent years. The state support program appears to have not affected sales, employment, or access to additional finance for beneficiary firms, even in the program's early stages. The results are robust to sensitivity analysis.

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Visual impact is essential when consumers are assessing car preferences. The purpose of this paper is to present a holistic model focusing on car aesthetic dimensions and its impact on consumers’ purchase decisions. Our findings are based on a questionnaire completed by 388 participants and analyzed with SPSS and AMOS. The results show not only that the aesthetic dimensions such as color, shape and sound influence the processing stimuli, but also the significant and positive relationships established between the stimuli and the purchase decision. Also, this study can guide marketers when developing an effective marketing strategy. As our research focuses on the Romanian market, testing our framework in different cultures is strongly encouraged.