1. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Looking for Innovation Beyond the Patent System: Evidence from Research Disclosures

    We study the content, novelty, and value of defensive publications relative to patents. We use a large language model (LLM) to apply the cooperative patent classification (CPC) system to a set of defensive…

  2. Refereed Journal // 2025

    Industriepolitik in Europa

    Die Industriepolitik rückt zunehmend in den Fokus der deutschen und der europäischen Wirtschaftspolitik. In diesem Beitrag entwickeln Hanna Hottenrott, Roman Inderst, Eckhard Janeba, Klaus Schmidt, Achim Wambach…

  3. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Effective Regulation and Firm Compliance: The Case of German Privacy Policies

    This paper explores the interaction between the enforcement of and compliance with difficult-to-enforce rules in the context of data regulation. We focus on the effect of the introduction of the GDPR and its…

  4. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Competition and the Strategic Disclosure of Innovation: Theory and Evidence from Patent Applications

    We develop a duopoly signaling model in which an innovative leader strategically announces a pending patent application to influence the follower’s behavior, both in the product market (in the short run) and in…

  5. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Hybrid Contracting in Repeated Interactions

    Many business relationships rely on loose arrangements and relational dynamics in early interactions, only to solidify their alliances through contractual commitments later. Using a repeated-games framework with…

  6. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Regulatory Capacity in a Game of Asymmetric Regulation

    In a model of asymmetric regulation, a firm can comply with two regulatory targets, and a regulator can audit the firm for compliance. Inspection by the regulator is imperfect, and it assesses the firm’s…

  7. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Successful Entrepreneurs Come From the Top of the Earned Income Distribution

    Identifying high growth startups ex-ante and fostering their success is an important policy challenge. Using Swedish registry data, we show that previous labor market earnings of entrepreneurs is a simple…

  8. Refereed Journal // 2025

    Earnings of university dropouts across Europe

    This paper investigates relative earnings of individuals leaving tertiary education without a degree across 18 European countries employing survey data on adult workers. We find that, on average, university…