New firms play an important role for the emergence and development of clusters. In recent years only a few studies have analyzed the (inter)relationship between entrepreneurship and clusters, but most of them have not taken into account the different development-stages of clusters. In accordance...

In this paper we take a detailed look at the sectoral anatomy of regional growth in German regions over the period 1978-2008. In the aggregate, the German economy is characterized by a secular decline of the manufacturing sector and a rise of the modern service economy. This trend of structural...

The unprecedented economic rise of Eastern Europe and China in the last two decades has triggered concerns in developed Western market economies about adverse effects for domestic labor markets trough increased import competition. Simultaneously, exports from developed countries to these new...

The analysis of active labour market policies (ALMP) at the macroeconomic level measures net effects on labour market outcomes. These net effects consist of direct treatment effects on participants as well as indirect effects on non-participants and on the economy as a whole, e.g. deadweight,...

In East Germany a profound demographic change has been taking place that manifests itself in the shrinkage and the aging of the population. One major cause is the drop in the East German fertility rates by about half directly after the reunification of Germany in 1990. In no other countries of...

This paper deals with the question whether firms' employment performance in the periods preceding their exit can be regarded as casting a 'Shadow of Death' on their final leaving the market. This aspect is of high relevance for politicians and other decision-makers, because by knowing more about...

This paper investigates whether labor mobility varies with the degree of agglomeration and, if so, how the differences can be explained. The theoretical basis rests on the advantages agglomerations exhibit in providing a large pooled labor market, one of Marshall's famous three sources of...

Empirical research on agglomeration and regional economic growth puts high emphasis on the impact of specialization, diversity, and competition on regional employment dynamics (Glaeser et al. 1992, Henderson et al. 1995, Blien et al. 2006, Fuchs 2009). However, Beugelsdijk (2006) and Raspe/van...

The question whether agglomeration effects are of importance for regional development has a long tradition in regional science. This paper asks if regional characteristics and specifically ag-glomeration effects influence the performance of plants in Germany and, if so, in which direction....