The Direct Employment Effects of New Businesses in Germany Revisited - An Empirical Investigation for 1976 - 2004

Based on an improved and extended database, the Establishment History Panel, we extend the analysis of Fritsch & Weyh (2006) by investigating the development of employment in German start-up cohorts for the period 1976 to 2004. We conïfirm the typical pattern of an initial increasing and then soon decreasing number of employees in start-up cohorts. Furthermore, we provide some of the first evidence for the "liability of aging" phenomena in Germany. Older firms face a relatively high risk of failure. Although only the largest 25% of the surviving entries grow in terms of employment, after 25 years the number of employees in these relatively large businesses strongly declines.Employment change, new firms, start-up cohorts, liability of agibg