The standard literature on working time has modelled the decisions of firms in a deterministic framework in which firms can choose between employment and overtime (given mandated standard hours). Contrary to this approach, we follow the real options approach, which allows us to investigate the...

This paper investigates monetary policy transmission at the microeconometric level. The credit rationing literature suggests that monetary policy has a larger effects on firms which are credit constrained. I use a large panel of German industrial firms to investigate whether this is empirically...

The objective of this paper is to address the question of convergence across German districts in the first decade after German unification by drawing out and emphasising some stylised facts of regional per capita income dynamics. We achieve this by employing non-parametric techniques which focus...

The paper considers two countries each populated by workers and capitalists and equipped with a government that collects taxes to finance productive expenditure and income redistribution. The share of income redistributed defines the size of the welfare state. Both groups in each country benefit...

Human capital accumulation is introduced in a growth model with R\&D-driven expansion in variety and quality of intermediate goods andknowledge spillovers from both research activities. Economic growth is no longer uniquely tied to population growth as previous growth models without scale...

We study an overlapping generations model of human capital accumulation with threshold effects using regional data for West Germany. Our basic goal is to shed light on what makes German regions grow. The paper finds that the relative income distribution appears to be stratifying into a trimodal...

Given that the value of China´s currency has been hot topic recently, this paper explores the equilibrium levels of China´s real and nominal exchange rates. Employing a Johansen cointegration framework, we focus on the behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) and permanent equilibrium...

We present a microeconometric study of the impact of financial constraints on investment decisions of 755 quoted and unquoted West German firms over the period 1989 to 1994. The underlying theoretical model is based upon rational expectations and convex adjustment costs. The panel data estimates...

The paper discusses the impact and implications of Korean unification by setting up a two-region endogenous growth model. The numerical solutions are based on the formal analytical model, and have been calibrated so that it reflects the observed features of the North and South Korean economies....

Does product variety matter for export performance? This has been suggested by the new trade theory. In the present paper, we investigate empirically whether increasing export variety has contributed to the export growth of ten East Asian countries. In the paper we calculate direct measures of...