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German politicians frequently emphasize the importance of Mittelstand firms for the economy, thereby particularly referring to their enormous engagement in training apprentices. However, there is yet almost no empirical evidence on the question whether Mittelstand firms are in fact excessively active in training apprentices. We study whether the relative importance of owner-managed small and medium sized enterprises has an effect on firms' apprenticeship activity on the county level.

Politicians frequently emphasize the importance of Mittelstand firms for the economy, thereby particularly referring to their enormous engagement in training apprentices. However, there is yet almost no empirical evidence on the question whether Mittelstand firms are in fact excessively active in training apprentices. This paper contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative importance of owner-managed SMEs has an effect on firms' apprenticeship activity. Using a cross section of West German NUTS-3-regions, we find a significantly positive relation between the relative importance of Mittelstand firms and apprenticeship activity on the regional level. However, on the national level an increase in the share of Mittelstand firms turns out to be without effect on apprenticeship activity.

Despite of the deeply rooted belief of politicians from all over the world in the important role of Mittelstand firms, there has been surprisingly little empirical research on this issue, yet. This article contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative regional importance of Mittelstand firms has an effect on regional innovation performance. Using a cross section of German NUTS-3-regions, a significantly positive relation between the relative importance of owner-managed SMEs and patent applications is identified. This finding is highly robust when controlling for spatial correlations as they often occur in highly disaggregated regional analyses.

Michael Berlemann und Vera Jahn, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität Hamburg, liefern in diesem Beitrag eine qualitative und quantitative Abgrenzung des Mittelstands und zeigen auf, dass sich mit Hilfe dieser Abgrenzung die Hypothese stützen lässt, dass mittelständische Unternehmen überdurchschnittlich innovativ sind.

This paper provides new insights into the economic impact of international migration by analyzing how immigration can affect business formation in the host country. For this purpose, we exploit a placement policy in Germany in the 1990s for immigrants of German descent from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (Aussiedler). Our empirical results at the regional level suggest that immigration had a positive impact on firm formation. The most likely mechanism driving this result is a positive implication of population diversity, while entrepreneurial activities of ethnic Germans and supply-side aspects seem to be of minor importance for our findings. Our results demonstrate that immigration under certain conditions – among others, equal legal treatment to natives – can stimulate business creation. Our findings enrich the political debate about the economic effects of immigration frequently discussed in receiving countries.