We investigate the plans of individual workers concerning future self-employment in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) shortly before the economic, monetary and social union in June/July 1990. Our data base is the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) East. We find that the desire to...

This study investigates firm survival and employment growth of start-ups by unemployed people in East and West Germany as promoted by the Work Support Act (so called bridging allowances). In 1994, the services provided were improved considerably, which led to a sharp increase in the number of...

We investigate the plans of individual workers concerning future self-employment in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) shortly before the economic, monetary and social union in June/July 1990. In order to model these plans, we take detailed account of individual heterogeneity,...