European leaders debate the establishment of a “European Recovery Fund” (ERF). The ERF shall help the European economy to restart growth after the COVID-19 pandemic-related recession that is currently unfolding.…
In this ZEW short report, the authors analyze the websites of approximately 1.1 million German companies twice a week for references of the word "Corona" and corresponding synonyms. The identified text passages…
With the Swedish student Greta Thunberg, the protest for the environment has taken on a personal face. Her central statement is: "Politicians are doing far too little for climate protection. This …
The measures to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus have brought large parts of the global economy to a standstill. This is likely to push Germany and many other countries into a deep recession in 2020. The…
Using public procurement to promote private innovation activities has attracted increasing attention recently. Germany implemented a legal change in its procurement framework in 2009, which allowed government…
This paper tests for the sensitivity of R&D to financing constraints conditional on restrictions in external financing. Financing constraints of firms are identified by an exogenously calculated rating index.…
We discuss important properties and pitfalls of panel-data event study designs. We derive three main results. First, binning of effect window endpoints is a practical necessity and key for identification of…
Based on a detailed model of the German tax-benefit system, this paper simulates private and fiscal returns to education for college graduates and college dropouts. Completing a five-year college degree is found…
In this paper, we investigate whether dynamic incentive schemes lead to a ratchet effect in a social dilemma. We test whether subjects strategically restrict their contribution levels at the beginning of a…