Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp .pdf Non-Technical SummaryNumerous empirical studies at different levels of aggregation demonstrate the important role of information and communication technologies (ICT) for economic performance. As general purpose technologies ICT enable firms to reshape their business processes and to improve their products and services. Firms' innovation activity in turn increases labour productivity thereby entailing growth and competitiveness. Policy makers and industry representatives denote the availability of an efficient broadband Internet infrastructure to be essential in order to reap the potential benefits of ICT.This paper provides empirical evidence on the causal impact of broadband Internet on firm performance using a sample of German manufacturing and services firms. Firm performance is measured in terms of labour productivity and realised product and process innovation. The analysis refers to the early phase of DSL expansion in Germany from 2001 to 2003, when roughly 60 percent of the German firms already used broadband Internet. Identification relies on instrumental variable estimation taking advantage of information on the availability of DSL broadband at the postal code level. The results show that broadband Internet has no impact on firms' labour productivity whereas it exhibits a positive and significant impact on their innovation activity. Thus, firms that used broadband Internet in the early phase of DSL expansion where more likely to reshape their business processes and to bring new or improved products and services to the market. Das Wichtigste in Kürze

This paper provides evidence that ownership and organization matters for the efficiency of provision of public services. In particular, we find that pure private ownership is more efficient than pure public ownership, and public ownership is more efficient than mixed ownership. The delegation of management in different legal forms also has an impact, highlighting the importance of the design of the government-operator relationship. We apply a structural approach of production function estimation ensuring precise determination of total factor productivity for a panel of German refuse collection firms between 2000-2012. We project total factor productivity estimates on ownership and organization. Our results are in line with the trade-offs implied by the property rights literature and provide important policy implications regarding the organization of public service provision.

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp .pdf Non-Technical SummaryNumerous empirical studies at different levels of aggregation demonstrate the important role of information and communication technologies (ICT) for economic performance. As general purpose technologies ICT enable firms to reshape their business processes and to improve their products and services. Firms' innovation activity in turn increases labour productivity thereby entailing growth and competitiveness. Policy makers and industry representatives denote the availability of an efficient broadband Internet infrastructure to be essential in order to reap the potential benefits of ICT.This paper provides empirical evidence on the causal impact of broadband Internet on firm performance using a sample of German manufacturing and services firms. Firm performance is measured in terms of labour productivity and realised product and process innovation. The analysis refers to the early phase of DSL expansion in Germany from 2001 to 2003, when roughly 60 percent of the German firms already used broadband Internet. Identification relies on instrumental variable estimation taking advantage of information on the availability of DSL broadband at the postal code level. The results show that broadband Internet has no impact on firms' labour productivity whereas it exhibits a positive and significant impact on their innovation activity. Thus, firms that used broadband Internet in the early phase of DSL expansion where more likely to reshape their business processes and to bring new or improved products and services to the market. Das Wichtigste in Kürze

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp08126.pdf Non-technical summaryThe economic literature has provided robust evidence indicating that the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) has positively affected productivity at aggregate and firm levels. Given the rapid technological progress observed in the production of ICT and the uncertainty and costs associated with their implementation, it is not surprising that the benefits of ICT are not equally distributed among adopting firms. As some firms reap those benefits sooner and better than others, the adoption of ICT represents a source of firm heterogeneity that might generate competitive advantages and affect firm strategies.This paper studies how the adoption of ICT affects firm heterogeneity and how such (ICT induced) heterogeneity impacts R&D incentives. The analysis is based on two established results from the empirical literature on the analysis of productivity at the firm level. First, there exist high and persistent productivity differences within industries (i.e. firm heterogeneity) and those differences explain the process of creative destruction: more productive firms grow faster, exhibit a higher probability of survival and displace low productivity firms.Second, the adoption of ICT has a significant, positive impact on productivity at the firm level. This paper attempts to uncover the role of ICT in generating firm heterogeneity and thereby contributing to the process of creative destruction.The analysis is carried out in two steps. In the first step, the impact of ICT on firm heterogeneity is estimated. Following existing literature, firm heterogeneity is defined as the deviation of a firm's productivity level from a given industry benchmark. Given that firm heterogeneity explains the productivity driven selection mechanism in which less productive firms are displaced by their more productive counterparts, the second stage estimates the impact of ICT induced heterogeneity on firms' R&D incentives, as strategies that determine firm survival.The results show that ICT has a robust, positive impact on firm heterogeneity only when ICT is used intensively and jointly with specific ICT applications. That is, through their use of ICT, firms are able to differentiate themselves (positively and negatively) with respect to other firms belonging to the same economic sector. The analysis also shows that ICT induced heterogeneity is not innocu...

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in May 2012 AbstractWe analyze how network regulation affects investment into network infrastructure and complementary services. While regulation negatively affcets investment incentives in the regulated network market, the effects of network regulation on investment in complementary services can be either negative or positive, depending on the relative weight consumers assign to infrastructure versus service quality. We also find constellations, where regulation can enhance perceived total quality.