We evaluate the impact of M&A activity on the growth of R&D spending and R&D intensity of 265 acquiring firms and 133 merger targets between 1990 and 2009. We use different matching techniques to construct separate control groups for acquirers and targets and use appropriate difference-in-difference estimation methods to single out the causal effect of mergers on R&D growth and intensity. We find that ...
Project Group Joint Economic Forecast Completed in Essen on 15 October 2013 Economy Picking Up – Put Budget Surpluses To Good Use The German economy is on the verge of an upturn driven by domestic demand. The improving global economic climate and decreasing uncertainty are fuelling investment. Private consumption is benefitting from favourable employment and income prospects. Real gross domestic ...
The poor and the unemployed are politically less interested and active than persons above the poverty line and the working population. Compared to other European democracies, Germany shows above-average levels of inequality of political participation. Data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) suggest that this inequality has been increasing in the past three decades. The data also indicate ...
In the case of collective redundancies, employers are forced to regard certain characteristics when deciding who is going to be dismissed. This paper develops a procedure to derive an empirical based weighting scheme between the characteristics relevant for this selection (age, disability, dependencies and tenure). First, panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1991-2010 ...
This paper gives an overview of the transformation of the German labor market since the mid-1990s with a special focuson the changing patterns of labor market segmentation or "dualization" of employment in Germany. While labor market duality in Germany can partially be attributed to labor market reforms promoting in particular non-standard forms of employment and allowing for an expansion of low pay, ...
The first minimum wage in Germany was introduced in 1997 for blue-collar workers in sub-sectors of the construction industry. In the setting of a natural experiment, blue-collar workers in neighboring 4-digit industries and white-collar workers are used as control groups for differences-in-differences-in-differences estimation based on linked employer-employee data. Estimation results reveal a sizable ...
This paper estimates the causal effect of retirement on health using Regression Discontinuity Design and instrumental variables. Age serves as an assignment variable for the RDD estimation and eligibility for a state pension is used as an instrument for retirement. Self-reported health status and the physical and mental sum-mary score of the SF12 measure are used as dependent variables. The...
by C. Katharina Spieß in: DIW Economic Bulletin 10/2013. Investments in education are of great importance for the competitiveness of the German economy. In particular, early childhood education programs promise high returns - because children can benefit from them even years later and find it easier to acquire new skills. These are the results of research in the field of the economics of education ...
