Entrepreneurship Research Group Publications

Testing the Superstar Firm Hypothesis

Firms with superior productivity, labeled superstar firms, are argued to be the link between rising concentration and the fall of the aggregate labor share in the US. This analysis confirms that similar evidence is found within the European context: the market share and firm size increase, whereas the labor share decreases with productivity. One of the much discussed mechanisms behind this development ...

Cost and Productivity Effects of Demographic Changes on Local Water Service

We investigate the impact of demographic changes on local public services taking the case of water service. We apply a structural production function approach to a large panel of German water utilities between 2003 and 2014. Exploring variation of population density and the population age structure across service areas and over time, we provide evidence that demographics and their changes significantly ...

Emergency-Aid for Self-employed in the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Flash in the Pan?

The self-employed faced strong income losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many governments introduced programs to financially support the self-employed during the pandemic, including Germany. The German Ministry for Economic Affairs announced a €50bn emergency-aid program in March 2020, offering one-off lump-sum payments of up to €15,000 to those facing substantial revenue declines. By reassuring ...

COVID-19: a Crisis of the Female Self-Employed

We investigate how the economic consequences of the pandemic and the government-mandated measures to contain its spread affect the self-employed — particularly women — in Germany. For our analysis, we use representative, real-time survey data in which respondents were asked about their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate that among the self-employed, who generally face a higher ...

Industry Conversion Tables for German Firm-Level Data

Microfirms and Innovation in the Service Sector

Prediction Based on Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profiles: Sometimes Worse than the Toss of a Coin

The human personality predicts a wide range of activities and occupational choices—from musical sophistication to entrepreneurial careers. However, which method should be applied if information on personality traits is used for prediction and advice? In psychological research, group profiles are widely employed. In this contribution, we examine the performance of profiles using the example of career ...

Business Cycles and Start-Ups across Industries: An Empirical Analysis of German Regions

We analyze whether start-up rates in different industries systematically change with business cycle variables. Using a unique data set at the industry level, we mostly find correlations that are consistent with counter-cyclical influences of the business cycle on entries in both innovative and non-innovative industries. Entries into the large-scale industries, including the innovative part of manufacturing, ...

Forschungsintensive Industrien brauchen einen besseren regulatorischen Rahmen: Interview

Deutsche forschungsintensive Industrien schwächeln

Die wirtschaftliche Stärke Deutschlands beruhte lange auf seinen forschungsintensiven Industrien, zu denen die Produzenten hochwertiger Technologiegüter und die spitzentechnologischen Industrien gehören. Doch diese Stärke schwindet. Der Wertschöpfungsanteil der Produzenten hochwertiger Technologiegüter, wie dem Automobil- und Maschinenbau oder der Chemie, ist in den letzten Jahren deutlich zurückgegangen. ...