ZEW Discussion Papers

Exchange rates are one of the most important prices in open economies. Despite their great importance for many enterprises, surprisingly little is known about the economic factors influencing the ups and downs…

Every year, secondary school graduates have to choose a university. This is a crucial decision for their future trajectories made under imperfect information. Therefore, quality indicators like university…

It is a common belief that more information about climate change will lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon and to an increase of prevention measures, such as insurance for natural hazards. To test…

The importance of market entry for competition and innovation is largely undisputed in the field of industrial organisation. Following the well-known methodology of Paul Geroski (1991, 1995), this importance is…

In most industrialised countries, the average age of the workforce has been growing rapidly during the recent years. If ageing workforces affect economic sectors differently, then the total impact of ageing…

Distinct settings of labor market institutions like the employment protection or the unemployment benefitt system have attracted considerable attention as a potential explanation for differences in the…

The primary contribution of this study is to assess whether public real estate markets and stock markets are linked at the local, regional, and global levels, and to assess the evolution of their dynamic…

The continuous generation of innovative products, processes and services is widely considered to be the primary key to firms’ competitiveness and growth. The major input in this innovation process is unique…

Many markets are characterized by a fundamental informational asymmetry: the seller of a product knows better its quality than the buyer. Also in many markets, the seller cannot credibly communicate the quality…