Using panel data for all manufacturing firms in the German Federal State of Lower Saxony in this paper the age distribution of jobs existing in 1992 is analyzed. Four conclusions emerge: The porportion of long-lasting jobs amounts to about 75 percent in firms that were founded prior to 1978. Old...

Folklore has it that the comparatively low proportion of self-employed in Germany is in part due to a habit that might be termed "stigmatisation of failure": taking a second chance to build one's own firm after failing as a self-employed is said to be much more difficult here than in other...