We explore the role of different types of self-employment for a persistence of the regional level of entrepreneurship over time. Our analysis for West German regions shows relatively strong effects for the historical self- employment rate in the non-agricultural sector, particularly in...

We investigate the persistence of levels of self-employment and new business formation in different time periods and under different framework conditions. The analysis shows that high levels of regional self-employment and new business formation tend to be persistent for periods as long as 80...

This paper reviews the empirical evidence of persistent levels of regional self-employment and new business formation and the effect this persistence has on development. It is argued that a regional culture of entrepreneurship plays an important role in explaining persistence of...

There is a research gap with respect to understanding the role of entrepreneurial culture and tradition for actual start-up behaviour. We combine historical self-employment data (entrepreneurial tradition) with a psychological measure for entrepreneurial attitudes (entrepreneurial culture). The...

The German apprenticeship system is widely known throughout the world. We analyze expenditures on vocational schools on county level using data from 213 West-German counties between 2001 and 2006. We use spatial econometrics to test for spatial correlation in counties' expenditure on vocational...

Over the last couple of decades, it has become a commonplace to claim that institutions matterʺ for economic development. Yet, institutions are not exogenous but the result of hu-man action. It is argued here that the values and norms held by substantial parts of society’s members are an...

The 40 years of socialist regime in East Germany were characterized by a massive anti-entrepreneurship policy. We investigate the reemergence of entrepreneurship in East Germany during its transformation to a market economy following the collapse of the East German state in 1989. It took about...

This paper analyses the hypothesis that the robust relationship between trust - as measured by the World Values Survey's question "In general, do you think that most people can be trusted, or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?" - and economic growth, established by empirical...

In this paper we use the NEG framework of the Helpman model to investigate the spatial distribution of wages across German labour market regions under different assumptions. As the assumptions of equal regional price level and equal real wages are strongly rejected for the German economy,...

Gegenstand des Artikels ist die Schätzung einer Translog-Produktionsfunktion, die die Auswirkungen der Bevölkerungsentwicklung auf die Produktion heute und im Jahr 2020 betrachtet. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf eine Entwicklung hin, die zu steigenden Disparitäten führt. Schon heute ist ein...