ZEW Discussion Papers

This paper makes an empirical contribution to confirm the stylized fact that the performance of firms deteoriates in the years before exit. For this reason we evaluate whether market exits differ significantly…

The paper applies standard public choice reasoning to the negotiations on EU enlargement and the Treaty of Nice. The starting point is the assumption that accession can only be successfully completed if the…

This study focuses on the diversification benefits of the most developed equity markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). To evaluate these benefits of diversification we use so-called spanning tests based on…

This paper is devoted to a new estimation of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) for the West German Economy 1980 to 1998. The novelty of the paper is the estimation of a time-varying…

The present paper examines the linkage between social security strategies and redistributive effects in European social transfer systems. It is argued that the various European systems produce different patterns…

In recent years stock option plans have become a substantial part of compensation schemes in U.S. companies. While in the beginning companies granted options only to the top-management more and more companies…

In dieser Studie werden die Anreize für Innovationsaktivitäten von Firmen mit beschränkter und unbeschränkter Haftung untersucht. Innovationen sind mit einem gewissen Risiko behaftet. Firmeneigner können ihr…

The US labour market is characterized by a high skill wage mark-up and low unemployment, while the German labour market has a low skill wage mark-up and a high, mainly unskilled unemployment rate. This paper…

German unification hit the West German economy in a prosperous period and appeared as a huge demand shock at least for the first few quarters. This combination resulted in a major increase of imports from the…