The question of whether firms gain competitiveness through local networks and clusters becomes more relevant than ever as globalization proceeds. This is particularly true for traditional and craft-based clusters, districts and business networks. A central question emerging for these types of...

There is an active global debate on corporate governance. A few years ago, there was serious concern about whether US companies would be able to compete against the powerful corporate groupings supported by closely involved banks in the Far East. Now, following the collapse of the East Asian...

A decade after German unification and the establishment of monetary, fiscal and social union between Western and Eastern Germany (1), it is time to take stock of the economic convergence reached so far, and to assess the prospects for further productivity catch-up. These issues are naturally of...

Based on a survey conducted among German Mittelstand firms and capital structure data on the Mittelstand, this paper sheds light on the current and future financing situation of the Mittelstand. The paper documents the equity shortage and dependence on bank debt typically associated with the...

Highlighting the revival of industrial-policy thinking in an era of globalisation and disenchantment with free trade, this paper reviews alternative and, in part, competing theoretical foundations of industrial policy: neoclassical foundations, structuralist approaches, and pragmatic approaches...

We study the determinants and productivity effects of regional transportation infrastructure investment in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. We estimate productivity effects with regional production functions for each country controlling for the potential endogeneity of public infrastructure...

This article analyzes the potential benefits of industryscience collaborations for samples of Flemish and German firms. A firm collaborating with science may benefit from knowledge spillovers and public subsidies as industry-science collaborations are often granted preferred treatment. I shed...