It is generally acknowledged that the size-class distribution of enterprises in a country is an important characteristic of its economy. The EU countries are increasingly co-operating and adjusting to each other's needs in order to achieve optimal joint output. However, country differences -at...

Entry and exit of firms is an item of major importance in economic policy. The purpose of this report is to investigate whether entry and exit of firms affects productivity. A model for total factor productivity is developed using a panel of regional data for the years 1988 up to and including 1996.

By stimulating entrepreneurship, the actual goal is especially to stimulate the people who will be successful after starting up their businesses. Considering the great variety within the group of (potential) entrepreneurs, there is need for specific insight in the factors that determine the...

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second gives up, and a third is still trying? To answer this question, a longitudinal study was set up in which 330 nascent entrepreneurs (people setting up a business) were followed over a one-year period. After one year, 47%...

Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by Helpman (1998) and Hanson (1998, 2001a). The advantage of the Helpman-Hanson model is that it incorporates the fact that agglomeration of economic activity increases the prices of...

Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by Helpman (1998) and Hanson (1998, 2001a). The advantage of the Helpman-Hanson model is that it incorporates the fact that agglomeration of economic activity increases the prices of...

We construct a unique data set in order to analyze whether or not a large temporary shock has an impact on city growth. Following recent work by Davis and Weinstein (2002) on Japan, we take the strategic bombing of German cities during WWII as an example of such a shock, and analyze its impact...

‘Het lijkt zo lekker vrij: voor jezelf beginnen met een eigen bedrijf. En dat is het ook vaak. Toch zitten Nederlandse ondernemers nog vaak gevangen in een Gouden Kooi. Verschillende instituties en regels belemmeren veel ondernemers om hun ambities verder uit te breiden, en om echt...

The Electoral College has a measurable effect on the propensity of the rational voter to vote for the candidate he most prefers. The ‘slippage’ between the individual's articulated preference ordering and his actual vote is analyzed (using 1968 data) with respect to the strategic position of...