We estimate the effects of R&D on firms' credit ratings and on financial distress. The main purpose is the comparison of firms in Western Germany and Eastern Germany as a transitional economy. Innovative activity has a positive impact on firm value proxied by ratings in Western Germany, but a...

The relationship between individual firms’ export behaviour and firm performance has been studied extensively in the economic literature. However, most studies from the field of economics only distinguish between exporting and non-exporting companies, using the firms’ export status as a...

This paper studies the impact of process and product innovations introduced by firms on employment growth in these firms. A simple model that relates employment growth to process innovations and to the growth of sales separately due to innovative and unchanged products is developed and estimated...

This paper analyzes the impact of the decision to contract ICT consulting on firms' innovative incentives. The paper develops a theoretical model and estimates some of its implications for a sample of German firms. In particular, the paper estimates the average treatment effect of the decision...