Germany is one of the most important exporters of manufacturing goods in the world, but by far not all manufacturing firms in Germany are exporters, and there is a remarkable gap between the share of exporters in all manufacturing firms between West Germany and East Germany. While in West...

This paper discusses issues related to the use of confidential firm level data in Germany. It starts by defining firm level data (in section 1) and reminding us what they are good for (in section 2), who produces firm level data in Germany, and how researchers can access these data today (in...

Based on data from a recent representative survey of the adult population in Germany this paper documents that the patterns of variables influencing nascent and infant entrepreneurship are quite similar and broadly in line with our theoretical priors - both types of entrepreneurship are fostered...

Mit Paneldaten für sämtliche niedersächsischen Industriebetriebe der Jahre 1995 bis 2002 werden drei Hypothesen aus dem Modell von Hopenhayn (Econometrica 1992) getestet: (H1) Firmen, die in der Periode t aus dem Markt ausscheiden, waren in der Periode t-1 weniger produktiv als Firmen, die in...

Folklore has it that the comparatively low proportion of self-employed in Germany is in part due to a habit that might be termed "stigmatisation of failure": taking a second chance to build one's own firm after failing as a self-employed is said to be much more difficult here than in other...

The focus of this paper is on the choice of the unemployed between becoming an entrepreneur or not. It contributes to the literature by empirically investigating two hitherto neglected issues: What is the impact of risk aversion and personal contact with a role model in shaping the decision to...

This paper tests the theory recently put forward by Edward Lazear that individuals with competence in many skills should have a higher probability of being self-employed than others. The empirical results for Germany support this jack-of-all-trades view.