ZEW Discussion Papers

Academic spin-offs are an important means for transferring skills, research results and technologies developed at universities to the for-profit private sector. Due to their origin from universities, spinoffs…

This paper quantifies the life-cycle incidence of key family policy measures in Germany. The analysis is based on a novel dynamic microsimulation model that combines simulated family life-cycles for a base…

Between 1995 and 2008, the global extraction of biomass, fossil fuels, and minerals grew from 48 to 69 billion metric tons. This study investigates how changing consumption and investment patterns affected the…

Existing literature on inequality of opportunity (IOp) has failed to address the question as to how the circumstances and choices of spouses in a couple should be treated. By omitting information relevant to the…

We investigate the effect of peer group composition on language improvement in language classes for adults. Using unique survey data of migrants participating in an intensive language course in Germany, we find…

This study readdresses the determinants of business cycle synchronisation. We test, on the one hand, whether FDI promoting policies may have consequences for the business cycle comovement between countries, and…

This paper evaluates the current focus of EU policy makers on small and medium-sized, young independent firms in high-tech sectors. Therefore, the effect of subsidies on both R&D input and R&D output is compared…

The global economic crisis of 2008/2009 hit many firms hard. Faced with rapidly declining sales and highly uncertain economic prospects, firms had to cut costs and reconsider their business strategies. With…

We document using the ZEW panel of German stock market forecasters that weak forecasters tend to be overconfident in the sense that they provide extreme forecasts and their confidence intervals are less likely…