Ethnic Minority Self-Employment in Germany: Geographical Distribution and Determinants of Regional Variation

In Germany self-employment among foreigners increased significantly in recent years. We study the geographical distribution of ethnic minority self-employment in Germany and find determinants for variations in start-up activities across 440 administrative German regions. We analyze the Statistic of Business Notifications and provide an extensive overview about start-up activities of foreigners in the time period 2001-2005. Moreover we apply a count data model on the number of business registrations in a particular region. We find that business foundations by foreigners are mainly enhanced by population growth, a higher population density and a large fraction of foreigners on overall population.Ethnic Minority Business, Entrepreneurship, Germany, Count Data Model

The Quality of Insurance Intermediary Services – Empirical Evidence for Germany

Insurance intermediaries help consumers to economize on information and transaction costs in insurance markets. However, competing insurance intermediaries provide heterogeneous services, which are difficult to assess by incompletely informed consumers. Transaction costs economics, search theory and principal agent theory provide arguments on product quality differences between the two main distribution channels in insurance markets (exclusive agents vs. independent intermediaries). The present paper uses a sample of 927 insurance intermediaries in Germany. By performing OLS estimations we test the impact of the different distribution channels, but also of other factors relating to the information processing activities on intermediaries’ service quality. Depending on the proxies used for service quality, we find mixed evidence for the “product quality” hypothesis according to which independent intermediaries provide better service quality than exclusive agents. We find that service quality depends also to a large extent on the information gathering and processing activities of the individual intermediaries.Insurance Distribution Channels, Service Quality

The Quality of Insurance Intermediary Services – Empirical Evidence for Germany

Insurance intermediaries help consumers to economize on information and transaction costs in insurance markets. However, competing insurance intermediaries provide heterogeneous services, which are difficult to assess by incompletely informed consumers. Transaction costs economics, search theory and principal agent theory provide arguments on product quality differences between the two main distribution channels in insurance markets (exclusive agents vs. independent intermediaries). The present paper uses a sample of 927 insurance intermediaries in Germany. By performing OLS estimations we test the impact of the different distribution channels, but also of other factors relating to the information processing activities on intermediaries’ service quality. Depending on the proxies used for service quality, we find mixed evidence for the “product quality” hypothesis according to which independent intermediaries provide better service quality than exclusive agents. We find that service quality depends also to a large extent on the information gathering and processing activities of the individual intermediaries

Concentration of Banking Relationships in Switzerland: The Result of Firm Structure or Banking Market Structure?

Relationship lending, multiple bank relationships, banking market structure, small business finance,