We investigate a sample of 180 technology licensing contracts closed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering companies between 1880 and 1913. Our empirical results suggest that strategic behaviour seems to be relevant for the design of licensing contracts, whereas inventor...

This study of initial public offerings (IPOs) carried out on the Berlin and London stock exchanges between 1900 and 1913 casts doubt on the received �law and finance� wisdom that legally mandated investor protection is pivotal to the development of capital markets. IPOs that resulted...

The working paper contains data on the Top 100 British and German firms measured by employment in five different years. Our analysis and interpretation of the tables has been published in the journal Jahrbuch fuer Wirtschaftsgeschichte 2/2010, pp. 27-43: ?Big Business im 20. Jahrhundert: Die 100...

This Article contains different data (sales, market shares etc.) about the quantitative development of the West German department stores from 1948 to 2000 and their detailed description.

This paper contains data on the quantitative development of the West German retailing from 1949 until 2000 and a detailed description of the data. The data show explicitly the development of the West German Mass Consumption Society in this period.

The paper deals with the development of big business in Germany during the 20th century. It shows the first results of the German team of the research project ?The Performance of European Business in the 20th Century?. The paper analyses how the structure of big business changed: it shows the...