Publications of the Research Unit Digital Economy

  1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-037 // 2025

    “Dance to my Tune!” Discovery Mode and Built-In Recommendation Bias

    We examine the strategic considerations and effects of product placement services in digital content aggregators, focusing in particular on Spotify’s “Discovery Mode”. Discovery Mode introduces bias in users’…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-036 // 2025

    Disclosure Risk for Firms in Combined Firm-Datasets

    Past studies have successfully shown that the level of anonymisation of scientific use files (SUF) is sufficiently high to protect against disclosure attacks that use data from traditional firm databases.…

  3. Discussion and Working Paper // 2025

    Survey: One Year into the COVID-19 Crisis – Views of the Self-employed

    In spring 2021, DIW Berlin, ZEW Mannheim, and the University of Trier conducted an online survey among self-employed persons to collect data about the situation of the self-employed in Germany one year after the…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-034 // 2025

    Market Entry of Digital Health Providers after the Introduction of a New Reimbursement Pathway

    Digital therapeutics are increasingly used to complement traditional health care. In a pioneering move, Germany became the first country to introduce a structured regulatory framework — known as the DiGA scheme…

  5. Non-Refereed Journal // 2025

    BMDS nimmt Fahrt auf

  6. ZEW-Branchenreport Informationswirtschaft // 2025

    1. Quartal 2025

    • Langzeittief in der Informationswirtschaft
    • Unternehmen versichern sich gegen Cyberattacken
  7. ZEW Monthly // 2025

    04/2025 – Work in the Digital Age

    The digital transformation is opening up new ways of working, collaborating and shaping the future – whether through remote work, AI-supported processes or virtual teams. This offers opportunities for more…