"Flexibility and heterogeneity are important topics in labour market research. Since 2004 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has funded a research network addressing the issue of 'Flexibility in Heterogeneous Labour Markets', which intends to uncover possibilities for fostering...

"This paper uses data from two British workplace surveys to examine the impact of unions on several training measures. It also evaluates the impact of unions and training on earnings and two measures of firm performance. Union effects on training emerge as fairly subtle, and are more positive...

"Die Wahl eines Standorts ist für Firmen von fundamentaler Bedeutung. Häufig werden Investitionen nötig, die eine Verlagerung mit hohen 'versunkenen Kosten' verbinden. Auch wenn die Anzahl der Verlagerungen seit den 1970er Jahren deutlich zugenommen hat, bleiben sie weiterhin relativ seltene...

"This paper makes three contributions to the literature on the effects of collective bargaining on the performance of German establishments. We include the analysis of firms' efficiency and we model productivity and efficiency simultaneously. Confronted with 25 % observations with missing...

"We discuss the determinants of a successful implementation of an employee suggestion scheme and other measures to stimulate innovation success. Subsequently the effects of the employee suggestion schemes are investigated empirically. We analyse the realisation of cost reductions and...

"There is a large body of literature on the determinants of regional variation in new firm formation. In contrast there are few articles on the spatial differences in new firm survival. Using panel data we analyse both items for 74 western German regions over a ten-year period. The positive...

"Since 1986 the Federal Employment Services has used the so-called 'bridging allowance' to support previously unemployed people in setting up their own businesses. This allowance is intended to guarantee the social security and subsistence of the person setting up the business (and the members...

"This paper introduces a large-scale administrative panel data set on corporate bankruptcy in Germany that allows for an econometric analysis of involuntary exits where previous studies mixed voluntary and involuntary exits. Approximately 83 percent of all bankruptcies occur in plants with no...

"This paper focuses on the question of whether improving the competence of new business founders by means of coaching and training programs enhances the duration of self-employment. In our analysis we focus on support activities that are provided in addition to a financial subsidy and which...

"There is a large body of literature on the determinants of regional variation in new firm formation. In contrast there are few articles on the spatial differences in new firm survival. Using panel data we analyse both items for 74 western German regions over a ten-year period. The positive...