More than one in four patents that major German companies apply for is based on inventions from their research laboratories abroad. In three quarters of the cases, the companies have focused on technologies in which they are very strong at home. Therefore, to a great extent the technological...

Following reunification, productivity in eastern Germany grew rapidly. A strong industrial sector is key to a thriving German economy. However, the narrowing of the industrial productivity gap between eastern and western Germany has come to a standstill since the financial and economic crisis...

Violent conflict is a severe obstacle for economic development and poverty alleviation. It harms humans and destroys physical property. However, conflict may also trigger social change. This contribution discusses how women may assume new economic responsibilities in a post-conflict environment....

The executive boards1 of Germany's 200 largest companies are still almost all male. In 2010, women occupied only 3.2% of all board seats. This negligible percentage is even lower in the top 100 and DAX30 companies, which are only 2.2% female, despite a voluntary commitment dating back to 2001,...

How do households cope with post-war economic reconstruction? Are groups of households trapped in poverty? These questions are discussed using the case of Mozambique, a nation in Southern Africa. Shortly after gaining independence in 1975, Mozambique delved into a civil war that lasted until...

Despite the widespread prevalence of violent conflict in most destitute regions of the world, little is known about the realities of individuals affected and the difficult decisions they have to take. In this report we address this issue by providing an insight into how individuals cope during...

In the German economy, both international trade in goods and also in services have grown quite forcefully. World-wide Germany is the third-largest exporter of services. However, until recently little has been known about the export behavior of service companies, especially small and medium sized...

Consumer prices for electricity in Germany have risen considerably in recent years. These price increases are partially attributable to a strong rise in the apportionment for the promotion of renewable electricity in accordance with the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The EEG...

Industrial research in East Germany mostly takes place in small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and non-profit external industrial research institutions, whereas in West Germany industrial research mainly takes place in large companies. The German Federal government, along with Länder...

Despite the recent financial crisis and widespread mergers in the banking industry, the German financial sector remains largely unchanged in one respect: the percentage of women on the corporate boards of Germany's banks and insurance companies was nearly as low in 2010 as in the pre-crisis...