Why Do Firms Train Apprentices? The Net Cost Puzzle Reconsidered

This paper investigates the short-term costs and benefits of apprenticeship training in Germany. It calls into question the popular stylised fact that apprenticeship training always leads to net costs during the apprenticeship period. We analyse the impact of the proportion of different occupational groups of apprentices on firm performance. We use representative matched employer?employee panel data that allow us to correct for different sources of estimation bias. We show that the proportion of apprentices in trade, commercial, craft and construction occupations has a direct positive impact on firm performance: the companies cover their training costs immediately. In contrast, companies with apprentices in the manufacturing occupations face net training costs during the apprenticeship period but gain by the long-term employment of its graduate apprentices. --apprenticeship training,performance,panel data estimation

Market Power of the German Beer Industry on Export Markets - An Empirical Study -

In this paper the existence and magnitude of market power for the German beer exporters is tested. Two theoretical approaches to model incomplete competition on international markets are employed, the ?pricing to market? (PTM) model the ?residual demand elasticity? (RDE) approach. Estimations for both models over the period from 1991 to 1998 reveal incompatible results regarding the underlying theoretical models and with respect to the approach that is used. While significant market power is indicated in the PTM model, the RDE approach signalizes perfect competition. This leads to the conclusion that the underlying theoretical models have to be extended to consistently match the observed market solutions in this case. --

Market power of German food and beverage industries on international markets

In this paper the existence and magnitude of market power for German beer, cocoa powder, chocolate, and sugar confectionary exporters are tested. Two theoretical approaches are employed, the 'pricing of market' (PTM) and the 'residual demand elasticity' (RDE) approach. Even though all markets show a significant violation of the 'law of one price' estimations for monthly data from 1991 to 1998 reveal that markets are in most cases perfectly competitive. However, while in some cases significant market power is indicated for the PTM approach, the RDE results do not support these findings. This leads to the conclusion that the underlying theoretical models fail to consistently match the observed price equilibria on the market under study. --