This study investigates firm survival and employment growth of start-ups by unemployed people in East and West Germany as promoted by the Work Support Act (so called bridging allowances). In 1994, the services provided were improved considerably, which led to a sharp increase in the number of...

This study investigates the determinants of self-employment and the effects of continuous vocational training among new self-employed and job movers. The analysis is based on a cross section of individual data for West Germany in 1991/92 covering vocational training and firm foundation through...

This study applies a full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimator of the sample selection model with bivariate selection rule for the investigation of the impact of subsidised firm foundation from unemployment on employment growth of the firm. The empirical analysis is based on the ZEW...

In April 1995, 5.3 million people in Germany were on the lookout for a new job opportunity. 177,000 or nearly 3% of those were searching for an opportunity to get self-employed. In this study the determinants of the lookout for selfemployment in lieu of wage work are investigated separately for...

The amendment to the German Trade and Crafts Code in 2004 offers a natural experiment to asses the causal effects of this reform on the probabilities of being self-employed and transition into and out of self-employment, using cross-sections (2002-2006) of German microcensus data. This study...

New business formation is a key driver of regional transformation and development. While we know that a region’s attractiveness for new businesses depends on its resources, infrastructure, and human capital, we know little about the role of local business networks in promoting or impeding the...