1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-70 // 2000

    Imposing and Testing Curvature conditions on a Box-Cox Function

    Many empirical studies in applied production analysis are based on functional forms that have to satisfy some curvature conditions in order to be compatible with microeconomic theory. Curvature conditions means…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-69 // 2000

    How Much Does a Year off Cost? - Estimating the Wage Effects of Employment Breaks and Part-Time Periods

    Discontinuities in the employment profile are supposed to cause wage cuts since they imply an interruption in the accumulation of human capital as well as a depreciation of the human capital stock built up in…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-68 // 2000

    Management Control and Innovative Activity

    This paper discusses the different incentives of managers versus firm owners to invest in innovative activities. Economic theory proposes different incentives in owner-led firms and manager-controlled firms. In…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-67 // 2000

    Control Transfers in Corporate Germany: Their Frequency, Causes and Consequences

    For a sample of almost 1000 German companies through the years 1987-1994 this study shows that there is a significant market for large share blocks. The vast majo-rity of block transfers leads to changes in…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-65 // 2000

    The Behaviour of Noise Traders - Empirical Evidence on Purchases of Business Magazines

    According to the prospect theory financial investors tend to sell winners too early and ride losers too long. Hence, financial investors are changing their positions more frequently in a bull market than in a…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-63 // 2000

    Consumption and Nutrition: Age-Intake Profiles for Czechoslovakia 1989-1992

    While health receives increasing attention from the economic profession, one can argue that the empirical analysis of household budgets has been motivated at the outset by an important aspect of the study of…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-62 // 2000

    What Do Economists Tell Us about Venture Capital Contracts?

    Start-ups in innovative branches require a substantial amount of capital. Their founders may not have sufficient funds to finance the implementation of the ideas alone and might therefore look for outside…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-61 // 2000

    Surprises in Scheduled Releases: Why do They Move the Bond Market?

    This paper analyzes the type of information contained in U.S. macroeconomic news releases in order to explain their relative impact on intraday T-bond futures prices quoted at the Chicago Board of Trade. It is…

  9. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-59 // 2000

    Enrolments in Higher Education in West Germany

    This paper analyses the determinants of participation in higher education in West Germany. In particular, the role of social origin as well as of expectations regarding the labour market outcome of a higher…

  10. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-58 // 2000

    Quantification of Qualitative Data Using Ordered Probit Models with an Application to a Business Survey in the German Service Sector

    This paper aims at providing business survey analysts with simple econometric tools to quantify qualitative survey data. We extend the traditional and commonly applied method proposed by Carlson and Parkin…

  11. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-54 // 2000

    Loosening Hours Constraints on the Supply of Labor - What if Germans Had a Dutch Labor Market?

    The lack of working hours flexibility is regarded as an important hindrance for work-sharing in Germany. Surveys show that employees often work more hours than they actually desire to. Given these indications on…