The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel: Design and Research Potential

So far, there has been no data set which observes firm formations in Germany not only on a cross-sectional basis using one-time surveys, but continuously over a number of years. Therefore, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), KfW Bankengruppe and Creditreform set up a panel study of newly founded firms in Germany: the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. In each of the yearly panel waves computer-aided telephone interviews (CATI) are conducted with about 6,000 start-up firms from almost all industries. The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel will for the first time enable profound analyses of the temporal development of newly founded firms, including studies of firm survival. This paper describes the design of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. The survey’s research potential is illustrated using data from the first panel wave conducted in the year 2008. Data access for external researchers and data protection issues of the confidential micro data are discussed.firm foundation, micro data, firm data, panel data, Germany

The KfW/ZEW start-up panel: design and research potential

So far, there has been no data set which observes firm formations in Germany not only on a cross-sectional basis using one-time surveys, but continuously over a number of years. Therefore, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), KfW Bankengruppe and Creditreform set up a panel study of newly founded firms in Germany: the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. In each of the yearly panel waves computer-aided telephone interviews (CATI) are conducted with about 6,000 start-up firms from almost all industries. The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel will for the first time enable profound analyses of the temporal development of newly founded firms, including studies of firm survival. This paper describes the design of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. The survey's research potential is illustrated using data from the first panel wave conducted in the year 2008. Data access for external researchers and data protection issues of the confidential micro data are discussed. --Firm foundation,micro data,firm data,panel data,Germany

The Interdependence of R&D Activity and Debt Financing of Young Firms

We investigate the interdependence of debt financing and R&D activities of young firms. Using micro-level data of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel, our estimation results show that firm characteristics are more important than personal characteristics of the founders for explaining young firms' leverage, whereas firm characteristics and human capital of both founders and employees heavily influence R&D intensity. Applying a bivariate Tobit model, we find that there is a positive interdependent relationship between the share of loan financing and R&D intensity. A higher share of loan financing allows for more R&D in young firms and, at the same time, a higher R&D intensity allows for a higher loan share. This relationship cannot be detected by merely estimating single-equation models for R&D intensity and debt financing.innovation financing, capital structure, business start-ups, KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel, Germany

What's the Difference?! Gender, Personality, and the Propensity to Start a Business

Women start fewer businesses than men. The start-up rate among women in Germany falls short of males' start-up rate by one third. We scrutinize this gender gap using individual-level data from the KfW Start-up Monitor, a large-scale population survey on start-up activity in Germany. As a unique feature, the data combine socio-demographic characteristics, entrepreneurship-related attitudes, and general personality traits of both business starters and non-starters. Estimating binary choice models and employing decomposition techniques, we find that gender differences in socio-demographics alone would even be in favor of higher start-up rates among women, while the distribution of personality traits is less favorable for business start-ups among women and explains about one third of the entire gender difference. Most substantially, men opt for a start-up more often even given identical human capital and related endowments. Qualificational policies targeted towards higher educational attainments of potential entrepreneurs do thus not suffice to increase the number of female business starters.entrepreneurship, gender difference, start-up propensity, decomposition analysis, KfW Start-up Monitor, Germany

KfW's human rights obligations in conservation work: The example of La Salonga National Park

Germany's engagement in the protection of national parks in Central Africa has come under increased international and domestic scrutiny in recent years. International NGOs, such as Rainforest UK, drew attention to allegations that park staff have committed serious human rights violations. These allegations have also been the subject of a series of parliamentary inquiries raised by members of the German parliament. In autumn 2019, KfW commissioned a consulting company specialising in security and community participation issues, to assess the security and environmental and social management systems at La Salonga in DR Congo. The KfW requested the German Institute for Human Rights to advise it and the consulting on the inclusion and evaluation of human rights aspects in this assessment. In this position paper, the Institute summarises the points covered in its human rights advice to KfW and draws conclusions of relevance for the overall environmental and social management (ESM) of this and other engagements

Infrastructure for sustainable development: the role of national development banks

This repository item contains a policy brief from the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative. The Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) is a research program of the Center for Finance, Law & Policy, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. It was founded in 2008 to advance policy-relevant knowledge about governance for financial stability, human development, and the environment.Development banks are increasingly becoming relied upon to help finance sustainable infrastructure in the 21st century. Much of the emphasis has been on the role of the existing multi-lateral development banks (MDBs), but lesser attention has been paid to the role of national development banks (NDBs). To help fill this gap, Boston University’s Global Economic Governance initiative (GEGI) and the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program convened a Task Force on Development Banks and Sustainable Development to examine the extent to which development banks are becoming catalysts for achieving a climate friendly and more socially inclusive world economy

Greening development finance in the Americas

This repository item contains a report from the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative. The Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) is a research program of the Center for Finance, Law & Policy, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. It was founded in 2008 to advance policy-relevant knowledge about governance for financial stability, human development, and the environment

The determinants of debt and (private-) equity financing in young innovative SMEs: evidence from Germany

Financial theory creates a puzzle. Some authors argue that high-risk entrepreneurs choose debt contracts instead of equity contracts since risky but high returns are of relatively more value for a loan-financed firm. On the contrary, authors who focus explicitly on start-up finance predict that entrepreneurs are the more likely to seek equity-like venture capital contracts, the more risky their projects are. Our paper makes a first step to resolve this puzzle empirically. We present microeconometric evidence on the determinants of debt and equity financing in young and innovative SMEs. We pay special attention to the role of risk for the choice of the financing method. Since risk is not directly observable we use different indicators for financial and project risk. It turns out that our data generally confirms the hypothesis that the probability that a young high-tech firm receives equity financing is an increasing function of the financial risk. With regard to the intrinsic project risk, our results are less conclusive, as some of our indicators of a risky project are found to have a negative effect on the likelihood to be financed by private equity

Different paths of change: home energy efficiency policy in Britain and Germany

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Asset securitisation as a risk management and funding tool : what does it hold in store for SMES?

The following chapter critically surveys the attendant benefits and drawbacks of asset securitisation on both financial institutions and firms. It also elicits salient lessons to be learned about the securitisation of SME-related obligations from a cursory review of SME securitisation in Germany as a foray of asset securitisation in a bank-centred financial system paired with a strong presence of SMEs in industrial production. JEL Classification: D81, G15, M2