A growing proportion of employees are working under fixed-term contracts. This paper empirically analyzes whether this strategy actually improves firm productivity. To this end, a large dataset of German manufacturing firms and various panel data models are used in order to reveal the expected...

Die Befristung von Arbeitsverträgen hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. In der Folge wird auch intensiv über die positiven wie negativen Effekte dieser Beschäftigungsform diskutiert. Die Debatte beschränkt sich jedoch im Wesentlichen auf Arbeitsmarktaspekte und die...

This study addresses the relationship between product innovation and the demand and supply of trade credit. Theoretical as well as empirical studies are used to derive the hypothesis of a positive link between product innovation and trade credit demand and supply. Using a sample covering SMEs...

Previous research shows that technical progress at the industry level, measured by sectoral TFP growth, is more localized in continental European countries than in Anglo-Saxon coun-tries. We use EU KLEMS data sets to decompose sectoral TFP for nine European countries by means of a Malmquist...

Boone (2008a) proposes a new competition measure based on Relative Profit Differences (RPD) that, from its theoretical properties, proves to be more robust than the Lerner-Index. However, the proof of the empirical practicability and robustness of the Boone-Indicator is missing. To fill this...

Research usually finds a positive size-efficiency relationship, but few studies focus on sectors dominated by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). This paper fills this gap by analyzing this relationship in the German mechanical engineering industry sector, which is both successful and...