Can Institutional Change Impact High-Technology Firm Growth?: Evidence from Germany's Neuer Markt

To facilitate the transformation of the German economy from the traditional manufacturing industries towards emerging new technologies, a new segment of the Frankfurt exchange was introduced in 1997 - Der Neue Markt. This study provides evidence that not only did many new firms obtain funding from the Neuer Markt, but that for the first time in recent history, Germany succeeded in enabling smaller firms to grow faster than larger firms. This suggests that the new policies were not only successful in promoting a new type of firm that otherwise might not exist, but in transforming the sources of growth and innovation within the German economy.