Though the shared investment hypothesis of human capital theory, i.e. that employers and employees share the costs of and the return on investment in firm-specific human capital, is widely accepted, we know little about the empirical evidence. The paper shows that in German data (1984-1991)...

In an open-shop model of trade union membership with heterogeneity in risk attitudes, a worker's relative risk aversion can affect the decision to join a trade union. Furthermore, a shift in risk attitudes can alter collective bargaining outcomes. Using German panel data (GSOEP) and three novel...

The paper provides information on sample sizes and panel attrition in the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for the years 1984 – 1999. Furthermore, results of the sequential estimation of non-response probabilities for the different subsamples of the GSOEP are described in detail.

Using micro-level panel data of about 35,000 firms from the German Cost Structure Census, we analyze the differences of technical efficiency across industries. Technical efficiency is estimated by firms? fixed effects. One striking result is that the distribution of technical efficiency across...

This paper investigates the factors that explain the level and dynamics of manufacturing firm productive efficiency. In our empirical analysis, we use a unique sample of about 39,000 firms in 256 industries from the German Cost Structure Census over the years 1992-2005. We estimate the...

Es wird ein Überblick über das Erhebungsdesign der ersten Welle der SOEP Teilstichproben A (West-Deutsche), B (Ausländer) und C (Ost-Deutsche) gegeben. Weiterhin werden die Weiterverfolgungsregeln des SOEP beschrieben. Die Entwicklung der Fallzahlen wird getrennt für die Teilstichproben im...

Es wird ein Überblick über das Erhebungsdesign der ersten Welle der SOEP Teilstichproben A (West-Deutsche), B (Ausländer) und C (Ost-Deutsche) gegeben. Weiterhin werden die Weiterverfolgungsregeln des SOEP beschrieben. Die Entwicklung der Fallzahlen wird getrennt für die Teilstichproben im...

This paper investigates the impact of new firms' quality on the magnitude of their employment effects. Our results clearly show that the quality of start-ups, measured by their affiliation with sectors and innovative industries, strongly influences the direct and the overall employment...