Microeconometric Studies on Firm Behavior and Performance

The papers in this book deal with various aspects of firm behavior and firm performance. All of them use micro data and micro-econometric methods to investigate the role of firm characteristics for the dynamics of enterprises. Four papers (in chapters 1 - 4) look at exports with a focus on productivity, innovation and the share of exports to low-income countries; firm dynamics in the so-called Great Export Collapse in the financial crisis of 2008/2009; the role of credit constraints for extensive margins of exports; and the role of "soft power" - the rate of approval of the job performance of the leadership of a home country among the people of a foreign country - for exports from the home country to this country. Three papers (in chapters 5 - 7) investigate the links between the presence of a firm on the web - i.e. having a website of its own - and various aspects of firm performance like productivity, firm size, international firm activities, and firm survival in times of COVID-19. The big picture is that better firms do have a website and that a website helped to survive the pandemic. Firm survival in the COVID-19 pandemic is the topic of chapter 8, too, with a focus on the role of the gender of the firm owner. It turns out that the effect of female ownership is positive after controlling for various firm characteristics that are known to be related to firm survival. While 3 papers (in chapters 2, 3 and 4) use firm level data from Germany, the other five chapters are empirical studies based on micro data from many countries. These papers illustrate the usefulness of multi-country studies for understanding aspects of firm dynamics and firm performance.