Corporate Governance in Germany: An Empirical Analysis
ZEW conducts evidence-based economic policy research on a range of high-visibility topics, including the digital transformation, European integration, and the energy transition.
These are tackled by ZEW’s research units.
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Pensions & Green FinancePensions and Sustainable Financial Markets
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LabourLabour Markets and Social Insurance
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DigitalisationDigital Economy
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HealthHealth Care Markets and Health Policy
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Innovation & FirmsEconomics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics
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Market DesignMarket Design
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Society & InequalityInequality and Public Policy
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Taxes & Fiscal AffairsCorporate Taxation and Public Finance
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EnvironmentEnvironmental and Climate Economics
Current projects
Corporate Governance in Germany: An Empirical Analysis
Corporate governance is the complex system of legal, institutional and market-based control devices of large companies. The functioning of this system is, however, only weakly explained by economic theory and there is a lack of empirical analyses. The aim of this project is to contribute to the better understanding of corporate governance in Germany. In the first phase of the project great effort has been devoted to constructing a database which encompasses important firm-specific information required for any analysis of corporate governance: data on financial performance, ownership structures, the capital structure, the degree of competition in product markets and basic macroeconomic variables. This has been a central task of the project since such a database had not yet existed for Germany. Initial analyses have already been conducted using this new database. In the second phase of the project the database will be further extended. Econometric analyses will be conducted on the following topics:
- What are the determinants of market exit and growth of firms?
- What are the causes and consequences of friendly takeovers? Is there any difference to hostile takeovers?
- Which internal and external corporate governance mechanisms ensure the continuous success of firms? Which mechanisms force inefficient firms to exit their markets?
Policy implications are expected for competition policy at the German and European level. But also the role of institutional investors for productivity growth will be explored and hence implications will be derived for the reform of the German pension system.
