Worldwide demographic changes and their implications for governments, corporations, and individuals have been in the focus of public interest for quite some time due to the fiscal risk related to adequate retirement benefits. Through a more detailed analysis of mortality data an additional type...

This paper investigates how patent applications and grants held by new ventures improve their ability to attract venture capital (VC) financing. We argue that investors are faced with considerable uncer-tainty and therefore rely on patents as signals when trying to assess the prospects of...

This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure time invention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor is away from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive...

Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Analyse des Einflusses der Faktoren Konjunkturerwartung, Risikoaversion des Kapitalmarktes und Liquidität auf die Marktwerte von Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) verschiedener Seniorität. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Marktwerte von CDOs wesentlich...

Successful innovation depends on the management of a firm’s knowledge base. This paper empirically investigates the determinants of knowledge regulation. Using a unique survey dataset, the analysis suggests that R&D managers do not leak knowledge randomly, but rather regulate knowledge...

Even 50 years after Modigliani/Miller’s irrelevance theorem, the basic question of how firms choose their capital structure remains unclear. This survey paper aims at summarizing and discussing corresponding recent developments in empirical capital structure research, which, in our view, are...

Ein Großteil der Neugründungen in Deutschland ist auf staatliche Förderung von Existenzgründern zurückzuführen. Dieser Anteil hat sich nach Einführung des als „Ich-AG“ bekannten Existenzgründungszuschusses Anfang 2003 stark erhöht. Die Erfolgsfaktorenforschung hat diese Form von...

New approaches in health care, such as e.g. Integrated Delivery Systems, affect the role and tasks of medical suppliers. More and more, medical suppliers are incorporated into the process of guiding patients to medical specialists and hospitals and thus managing the course of disease. In this...

In enhanced annuities, the annuity payment depends on one's state of health at some contracted date while in "standard annuities", it does not. The focus of this paper is on an annuity market where "standard" and enhanced annuities areoffered simultaneously. When all insured know equally well on...

Unabhängige Vermittler erbringen im Rahmen Ihrer Tätigkeiten wichtige Dienstleistungen für Versicherungsunternehmen und Versicherungsnehmer. Zum einen soll für Versicherungsnehmer in vielen Bereichen passender Versicherungsschutz besorgt werden (Produktauswahl). Darüber hinaus können...