A subsidy may be a direct or indirect payment, economic donation or advantage granted by the government to private businesses, individuals or perhaps households with regards to promoting a particular financial activity or public target. Subsidies are available in a variety of varieties, including cash payments, grants or loans, federal financial loans and tax breaks. Subsidies can influence marketplace prices, encourage certain business ventures and provide interpersonal and environmental welfare. Immeasureable dollars in subsidies are given to industries like agrumiculture and essential oil, and individuals receive financial assistance every day through Medicare and subsidized home loan programs.

Financial aid are also frequently used to promote advancement in market sectors with increased production costs, such as alternative energy and biotechnology. Alternatively, they can protect home businesses coming from foreign competition, as is the truth with egyptian cotton growers in the United States struggling to compete against cheap silk cotton imports. Different types of financial aid may include rate of interest subsidies, in which governments collection below-market interest levels on build up and financial loans, and the establishment subsidy programs and financing of development financial institutionsto offer specialized credit.

Those opposed to subsidies argue that free industry forces ought to determine if an enterprise succeeds or does not work properly, and that federal government intervention distorts markets and prevents successful outcomes. Additionally, they argue that subsidy funds is hardly ever spent since efficiently as its proponents promise, and that microeconomic calculations are very inexact to accurately foresee how much effects a subsidy will have. Subsidy opponents likewise contend that the political procedure is damaged by the function of subsidizing, as businesses with vested interests within a specific policy seek to impact its creation and perpetuation.