Drawing on representative household data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine the role of an early precursor of entrepreneurial development - parental role models - for the individual decision to become self-employed in the post-unified Germany. The findings suggest that the...

Software ist ein Gut, welches besondere ökonomische Eigenschaften aufweist. In diesem Artikel werden - ausgehend von einer allgemeinen Definition des Gutes Software - systematisch zentrale ökonomische Eigenschaften herausgearbeitet, welche Implikationen für die Produktion und Kostenstruktur,...

Das Papier charakterisiert die spezifischen Eigenschaften des Gutes Software. Als Alternative zur Bereitstellung von Software über Märkte werden die Charakteristika der "freien" Open-Source-Softwareentwicklung dargestellt, bei der die Entwickler auf eine unmittelbare kommerzielle Verwertung...

In this paper, we analyse the implications of labour market integration in a two-region model with local human capital externalities and congestion eects. We show that integration can be a double-edged sword. Integration and the ensuing agglomeration of skilled labour can reduce 'real' income in...

The paper investigates the relationship between human capital diversity measured in terms of occupational diversity and a firm's likelihood to innovate. The empirical analysis is based on a linked employer-employee panel dataset of German firms over the period 1998 to 2007. Despite notable...

Human capital is transferable across occupations, but only to a limited extent because of differences in occupational skill-profiles. Higher skill overlap between occupations renders less of individuals' human capital useless in occupational switches. Current occupational distance measures...

An emerging literature on the geography of bohemians argues that a region's lifestyle and cultural amenities explain, at least partly, the unequal distribution of highly qualified people across space, which in turn, explains geographic disparities in economic growth. However, to date, there has...