The paper deals with a new approach in German innovation policy that organizes contests of initiatives for public funds. Based on an overview of the different programs we investigate the advantages and problems of such an approach. We find that this type of policy may have a large impact and...

Die ostdeutsche Wirtschaft hat fast 25 Jahre nach der Wiedervereinigung noch nicht zur westdeutschen Wirtschaft aufgeschlossen. Im Vergleich zu Westdeutschland erreichte die Wirtschaftsleistung der ostdeutschen Bundesländer pro Kopf im Jahr 2013 nur etwas mehr als 70 Prozent. Auch kurz- oder...

There is a broad consent that the extent, quality as well as the success of innovation activity is critically dependent on the generation and the application of knowledge. It is also widely recognized that innovation processes have a pronounced regional dimension and that the conditions for...

We investigate regional differences in the level and the development of regional new business formation activity. There is pronounced variance of start-up rates across regions. The level of regional new firm formation activity is rather path-dependent so that changes are relatively small. The...

We analyze the spatial diffusion of laser-technology in Germany during the early phase of development, between 1960 and 2005. Research in this new technological field began in a few larger centers and then spread to other regions. In the early years, a large firm of the electronics industry...

We investigate the effects that regional start-up activity has on employment in new and in incumbent businesses. The analysis is performed for West German regions over the 1987-2002 period. It shows that the effects of new businesses on employment in the incumbents are significantly positive and...

This paper investigates the impact of new firms' quality on the magnitude of their employment effects. Our results clearly show that the quality of start-ups, measured by their affiliation to sectors and innovative industries, strongly influences the direct and the overall employment...

Studies for established market economies such as West Germany (Fritsch and Mueller, 2007), and Sweden (Andersson and Koster, 2011) have shown that regional start-up rates tend to show a relatively high level of persistence and path dependency over periods of 10-15 years. One main reason for this...

We explore the role of different types of self-employment for a persistence of the regional level of entrepreneurship over time. Our analysis for West German regions shows relatively strong effects for the historical self- employment rate in the non-agricultural sector, particularly in...

Emerging literature shows that spatial differences in entrepreneurship tend to persist over longer periods of time. A potential mechanism underlying this pronounced persistence is that high levels of start-up activity lead to the emergence of a regional culture and a supporting environment in...