Based on representative data, the German Micro-Census, we provide an overview of thedevelopment of self-employment and entrepreneurship in Germany between 1991 and 2010,the first two decades after reunification. We investigate the socioeconomic background ofthese individuals, their education,...

We address the long standing question of whether production factors are paid their marginalproducts. We propose a new approach that circumvents the need to specify productionfunctions and to compare marginal products to factor payments. Our approach is based on asimple equation that directly...

We provide, for the first time, comparative evidence of the impact of various types of extremeevents – natural disasters, terrorism, and violent conflicts – on the perceptions ofentrepreneurs concerning some key entrepreneurial issues – such as fear of failure instarting a business...

We develop a dynamic duopoly model of R&D competition to improve the quality of a finalgood. The innovation process is sequential and cumulative, and takes place alongside productionin an infinite-horizon setting. In this context we study the R&D incentive impacts resultingfrom a “research...

We develop a model with one innovating northern firm and heterogeneous southernfirms that compete in a final product market. We assume southern firms differ in their intrinsiccosts and their ability to adapt technology and study southern incentives to protect intellectualproperty rights. We find...

The contributory infringement rule assesses liability to a third party that contributes tothe infringement of a patent. Not only are firms that directly infringe liable, those whoindirectly contribute are also liable. We investigate how this rule affects the creation of anetwork of members...

We develop a model with one innovating northern firm and several heterogeneousSouthern firms that compete in a final product market. We assume the southern firms differ intheir ability to adapt technology and use this heterogeneity to study the differing incentives ofsouthern governments to...

This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure timeinvention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor isaway from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive...

There has been a wide-spread misconception based on the imprecisewording of Art. 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC)that the protection of business methods by patents is prohibited inEurope. This paper investigates the legal framework set by patentlaws with respect to the patentability of...