Topic Firms

Local Currency Pricing by Firms: Evidence from China’s Renminbi (RMB) Reforms

This paper examines the impact of RMB internationalization reforms on invoicing currency choices of firms exporting to China. Using detailed French customs data spanning 2011-2017, it documents three novel stylized facts on RMB adoption and suggests a novel mechanism that drives the self-selection of firms into RMB invoicing. Additionally, it provides causal estimates of the impact of RMB use on...

Scaling up of SMEs

The project seeks to identify the share of productive and fast-growing firms in the economy, their characteristics such as sector, location (urban/rural, low-density, high-density, etc.), size and age since formation, and their growth performance. Furthermore, it will be analyzed - as far as the data situation allows - which factors contribute to the success.

Are M&As Spurring or Stifling Innovation? - Evidence from Antidiabetic Drug Development

The innovation impact of acquisitions of small targets with products close to launch by large product market incumbents is currently debated, weighing whether incumbents might preemptively terminate or “kill” the innovative projects of these targets. This paper provides empirical evidence on which M&A deals spur and which stifle innovation. To this end, we not only look at the product market...

Workshop Economic and Psychological Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Self-employed

Based on various data sources, the workshop will examine the economic and psychological situation of the self-employed three years after the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Next to analyzing the immediate impact of the crisis, the workshop will address the adjustment measures taken by the self-employed and the long-term consequences. Possible research questions include what strategies the self...

Remunicipalization, Corporatization, and Outsourcing: The Performance of Public-Sector Firms after Reorganization

This article investigates the impact of reorganization on productivity within public-sector firms addressing the owners' composition, the board-management relationship, and the management's decision to outsource activities. Considering a large panel of 2,325 German municipally owned utilities between 2003 and 2014, firm-level productivity is estimated based on a control function approach. Contrary ...

Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups

Self-efficacy reflects the self-belief that one can persistently perform difficult and novel tasks while coping with adversity. As such beliefs reflect how individuals behave, think, and act, they are key for successful entrepreneurial activities. While existing literature mainly analyzes the influence of the task-related construct of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, we take a different perspective and ...

SOEP-LEE2: Linking Surveys on Employees to Employers in Germany

This article presents the new linked employee-employer study of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-LEE2), which offers new research opportunities for various academic fields. In particular, the study contains two waves of an employer survey for persons in dependent work that is also linkable to the SOEP, a large representative German annual household panel (SOEP-LEE2-Core). Moreover, SOEP-LEE2 includes ...

Diversify or Not? – The Link between Global Sourcing of ICT Goods and Firm Performance

Our paper contributes to the discussion about Europe’s digital sovereignty. We analyze the relationship between firm performance and the diversification of sourcing countries for imported ICT goods. The analysis is based on administrative data for 3888 German manufacturing firms that imported ICT goods in the years 2010 and 2014. We find that firms that diversify the sourcing of ICT goods across multiple ...

Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed

We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these ...

German Financial State Aid during Covid-19 Pandemic: Higher Impact among Digitalized Self-Employed