This paper reviews the major finance-related causes of private under-investment in innovation and the consequent alternative choices for public policy. The focus is on incentive-based arguments that address the problem of limited appropriability of new knowledge, and on the lacking access to...

Probleme der Finanzierung sind für die Marktdiffusion innovativer Energietechnologien ebenso wichtig wie ihre technischen Eigenschaften oder der erwartete Nutzen aus der Technologieanwendung. Welche Rolle spielt dabei die Eigentümerstruktur des Innovators? Welchen Einfluss hat die...

This paper develops a methodology for estimating the parameters of dynamic opinion or expectation formation processes with social interactions. We study a simple stochastic framework of a collective process of opinion formation by a group of agents who face a binary decision problem. The...

This paper develops a methodology for estimating the parameters of dynamic opinion or expectation formation processes with social interactions. We study a simple stochastic framework of a collective process of opinion formation by a group of agents who face a binary decision problem. The...

Using newly available data at the firm level, this study provides convincing evidence of the importance of financial constraints in explaining the timing of innovations in the German services sector. Based on a dynamic model of firms' optimal R&D behavior under financial constraints, we estimate...

Zwar sind Anzeichen einer konjunkturellen Erholung nach Phasen der Stagnation und Rezession erkennbar, doch um einen nachhaltigen wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung zu erreichen, müssen notwendige Strukturreformen durchgesetzt werden. Insbesondere bei kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen führen...

At present, the question of how national pension or retirement payment systems should be organised is being hotly debated in various countries, and opinions vary widely as to what should be regarded as the optimal design for such systems. It appears to the authors of the present paper that in...

One channel of business cycle shock transmission which gained attraction only recently is the confidence channel. The aim of the paper is to find out whether the confidence channel is actually working between the US and Germany. This is analysed using times series methods. In contrast to other...