We investigate the effects of the German codetermination law of 1976 on the innova-tiveness of a sample of German stock companies from the manufacturing industry. Information from 155 companies on the number of patents granted in the time period 1971-1990 is combined with other firm and industry...

We present the first panel estimates of the productivity effects of the unique German institution of parity, board-level co-determination. Although our data span two severe recessions when labour hoarding costs of co-determination are probably highest, and the panel is too short to capture the...

Die Konzentration bzw. Streuung der Kapitalanteile variiert in deutschen Aktiengesellschaften erheblich. Die Literatur diskutiert seit langem, inwiefern Unterschiede der Streuung die Effizienz von Firmen beeinflussen. Wir untersuchen die Auswirkung der Streuung von Kapitalanteilen in Unternehmen...

Many observers regard the German system of codetermination as a very strong intervention into the working of the capital market. With the introduction of the codetermination law in 1976, employee representatives in limited lability companies with more than 2000 employees are entitled to occupy...

We present a new model of employee involvement with incomplete contracts and uncertain monitoring. Distributional considerations limit productivity and generate excessive monitoring under employee control, so co-determination can increase both efficiency and labour's share of the enterprise...

Simple models of competition for the market with endogenous entry show that, contrary to the Arrow view, an endogenous entry threat in a market induces the average firm to invest less in R&D and the incumbent leader to invest more. We test these predictions based on a unique dataset and survey...

We estimate the effect of R&D spillovers on sales realized by products new to the firm (imitation) and new to the market (innovation). It turns out that spillovers from rivals lead to more imitation, while input from customers and research institutions enhance original innovation.

We estimate the effect of R&D spillovers on sales realized by products new to the firm (imitation) and new to the market (innovation). It turns out that spillovers from rivals lead to more imitation, while inputs from customers and research institutions enhance original innovation.

We investigate the effect of profit-sharing on product and process innovation. Profit-sharing is a credible commitment of the companies to let the employees participate in any efficiency gain. Resistance against technical progress becomes less plausible. Moreover, employees are stimulated to...

his paper discusses the incentives for innovation when liability is limited or not. Clearly innovative activity involves risk. On the one hand, the risk of firm owners is limited if their liability is limited. On the other hand, credits will be more difficult to receive if liability is limited....