Researchers in Germany have nowadays access to confidential micro-data compiled from official statistics in a way that could not have been dreamt of just a few years ago. This article describes the new institutions that grant data access most importantly the research data centers located inside...

Using a knowledge production framework and a rich set of plant level data this study demonstrates that in Germany firms that are active on international markets as exporters or foreign direct investors do generate more new knowledge than firms which sell on the national market only. These...

Using newly available representative longitudinal data for German manufacturing enterprises over the period 1999 to 2006 this study presents the first comprehensive empirical evidence on subsidized and non-subsidized firms in East and West Germany. The share of subsidized firms in all firms was...

Using quantile regression and a rich cross section data set for German manufacturing plants this paper documents that the impact of plant characteristics on export activities varies along the conditional size distribution of the export/sales ratio.