ZEW Discussion Papers

Researchers at the ZEW participate in scientific debates by publishing their papers. The papers are predominantly in English (marked). For the German papers an English abstract is available. The contributions are intended for a final publication in special interest titles. The discussion papers can be downloaded as PDF or PostScript files starting from 1.1.1998. They aimed at national and international target groups.

  1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-012 // 2024

    Regulatory Compliance With Limited Enforceability: Evidence From Privacy Policies

    The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2018 introduced stringent transparency rules compelling firms to disclose, in accessible language, details of their data collection, processing, and use. The…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-011 // 2024

    Sick Leave and Medical Leave in the United States: A Categorization and Recent Trends

    This article reviews the current debate about sick pay mandates and medical leave in the United States. The United States is one of three industrialized countries that do not guarantee access to paid sick leave…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-010 // 2024

    Information Accessibility and Knowledge Creation: The Impact of Google’s Withdrawal From China on Scientific Research

    How important is Google for scientific research? This paper exploits the exogenous shock represented by Google’s sudden withdrawal of its services from mainland China to assess the importance of access to…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-009 // 2024

    Public Procurement Can Hinder Innovation

    Public procurement accounts for 15 to 20 percent of global GDP and is considered an effective innovation policy. However, the negative effects of price-based public procurement - public procurement tenders…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-008 // 2024

    Die fiskalische Wirkung von Steuersatzsenkungen, Abschreibungsvergünstigungen und Investitionsprämien in Krisenzeiten – Eine quantitative Analyse in Bezug auf deutsche Kapitalgesellschaften

    Wir zeigen, wie sich die fiskalischen Wirkungen einer Steuersatzsenkung, Abschreibungsvergünstigung und Investitionsprämie über einen Zeitraum, der durch eine Ergebniskrise geprägt ist, voneinander…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-007 // 2024

    Subsidising Innovation Outside or Within Firms’ Existing Knowledge Base: Which Is Best for Radical Innovation?

    Public financial support for firm-level Research and Innovation (R&I) can generate important socio-economic returns. This is especially true if firms use this support to develop radical innovation, defined as…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-006 // 2024

    Wage Inequality Consequences of Expanding Public Childcare

    Family policies are often analyzed at the micro-level with respect to their short-run effects, even though, for female workers, they play a role as labor market institutions. Therefore, this paper assesses the…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-005 // 2024

    De-routinization in the Fourth Industrial Revolution – Firm-Level Evidence

    This paper examines the extent to which aggregate-level de-routinization can be attributed to firm-level technology adoption during the most recent technological expansion. We use administrative data and a novel…

  9. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-004 // 2024

    Intergenerational Mobility of Education in Europe: Geographical Patterns, Cohort-Linked Measures, and the Innovation Nexus

    We estimate intergenerational mobility of education for people born 1940-1999 at the subnational level for 40 European countries. The result is a panel of mobility indices for 105 mesoregions (NUTS1), and 215…