The drivers of the spatial emergence and clustering of the photovoltaic industry in Germany. Following the relatedness literature, we explore to what extent related industries influenced the regional emergence of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. In addition, we shed light on factors explaining selective processes of clustering. We particularly argue that generic resources and resources of related activities have been crucial for the regional concentration in early phases of the industry life cycle. With increasing maturity, industry-specific resources became more important. Based on a unique dataset containing population dynamics of the German PV industry, the hypotheses are tested empirically. Our results partially confirm the assumed beneficial effects of related industries for the emergence of the PV industry. Moreover, we observe changes in the relative importance of factors supporting regional concentration, with industry-specific resources becoming dominant as the industry matures.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on internationalised research and development by investigating determinants of knowledge and technology transfer between foreign subsidiaries and the local economy in European post-transition economies. This inquiry leads to a better understanding of determinants that influence this knowledge and technology exchange. Applying a logit model, we find that, in particular, the foreign subsidiary’s corporate governance structure, its embeddedness in the multinational enterprise’s internal knowledge base, its own technological capacity, the growth of the regional knowledge stock and the regional sectoral diversification are all positively associated with the transfer of knowledge. Subsidiaries’ investment motives and the relative weight of the sector of investment in the region’s economy appear to be of less importance. The analysis focuses on European post-transition economies, using the example of five selected Central Eastern European countries and East Germany. We exploit a unique dataset, the IWH FDI Micro database, which contains information on one thousand two hundred forty-five foreign subsidiaries in this region.

Administrative data from a large and diverse community college are used to examine if underrepresented minority students benefit from taking courses with underrepresented minority instructors. To identify racial interactions we estimate models that include both student and classroom fixed effects and focus on students with limited choice in courses. We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout rates and grade performance between white and underrepresented minority students falls by 20 to 50 percent when taught by an underrepresented minority instructor. We also find these interactions affect longer term outcomes such as subsequent course selection, retention, and degree completion.

In the decade prior to the economic and financial crisis, Germany’s net exports increased in absolute terms as well as relative to the growing level of import intensity of domestically produced export goods and services. This article analyses the direct and indirect employment effects induced both by exports as well as by of the import intensity of the production process of export goods and services on the skills used. It shows that Germany’s export surpluses led to positive net employment effects. Although the volume of imports of intermediate goods increased and was augmented by the rise in exports, it could not undermine the overall positive employment effect.

Past research on the impact of R&D cooperation on firm innovation performance has almost solely focused on technological innovations. This paper investigates the impact of R&D cooperation on non-technological innovation performance of firms. In doing so, seven different cooperation partner types are distinguished. Survey data from German firms are used for the econometric analysis. It is shown that R&D cooperation increases the probability of a firm to introduce non-technological innovations. R&D cooperation with suppliers, consultants, other firms within the same firm group and universities has a significant positive impact on organizational and marketing innovation performance. Cooperation with governmental research institutes and competitors has no significant effect. R&D cooperation with customers has a significant impact on a firm's organizational innovation performance, but not on marketing innovation performance.