ZEW Discussion Papers

We examine job durations of German workers using a linked employer-employee dataset. The descriptive evidence suggests that firm characteristics have a substantial influence on the job exit rate. However, the…

The combination of research and development units following a merger or an acquisition usually requires a broad and widespread integration project to ensure that a company’s innovative capabilities are carried…

We consider the application of self-financing tax/subsidy mechanisms in environmental regulation and explore the question whether these mechanisms yield strong investment incentives in a market with many firms…

We explore the design of self-financing tax-subsidy schemes to solve hold-up problems in environmental regulation. The announcement of the tax rate seems to be preferable to solve hold-up problems with respect…

We estimate the effect of initial episodes under fixed-term contracts (FTCs)on job duration in the further course of the employment spell, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from 1985 to…

Globalization has led to exciting new business opportunities around the globe. Still, national and cultural boundaries have not evaporated into a “borderless world.” Several studies have identified so-called…

As a group, market forecasters are egregiously overconfident. In conformity to the dynamic model of overconfidence of Gervais and Odean (2001), successful forecasters become more overconfident. What’s more, more…

The choice of the appropriate sales mode belongs to the firm’s most important strategic decisions after entering into a foreign market. Thus, it is important that the selected foreign sales mode best suits a…

This paper investigates whether firms innovate persistently or discontinuously over time using an innovation panel data set on German manufacturing and service firms for the period 1994–2002. We find that…