This paper analyses the relationship between firm productivity and export behavior in German manufacturing firms. We examine whether productivity increases the probability of exporting, and assert that there is a causal relationship from high productivity to entering foreign markets, as...

This paper tests some of the predictions of recent advances in trade theory that have focused on different trade patterns of firms within the same sector. Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2005) develop a model in which innate productivity differences between firms determine the degree of...

The aim of the wage subsidy program in Hamburg is to encourage the creation of low wage jobs for unemployed persons with poor labor market opportunities. If a firm hires an unemployed job seeker, both the employer and the employee each receive a monthly wage subsidy of 250 Euros in the first ten...