Human Capital in New Firms

Acknowledgements When I began studying economics, I did not believe that I would ever be able to write a dissertation in this discipline. Too many mathematical formulas seemed to ask too much from my brain that intrinsically likes pictures and verbal stories. It needed several persons who continuously encouraged me to reach the point where I stand now. The first who believed in me was Oliver Fabel, who motivated me writing a dissertation after my diploma thesis. He also suggested the topic of this dissertation and acted as a supervisor. I am also very much indebted to Ulrich Kaiser for reviewing this dissertation as second supervisor and for supporting me with encouraging comments, in particular towards the end. In a completely uncomplicated way, Uli also brought me into contact with the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) in Copenhagen, which provided me with access to Danish register data. Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. The ZEW offers an inspiring research environment where the doors are always open and the communication lines are short. My work benefited from discussions with people of various departments of the ZEW but especially from my colleagues of the research group Information and Communication Technologies, who not only provided professional support but also had an open ear for all other issues that bothered me. In her function as the head of the research group, Irene Bertschek pushed my work whenever it ran the risk of losing drive. I am thankful to Daniel Cerquera, Katrin Schleife and Michael Ward for helpful comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank Isabel Steinweg and Lisa Valentin for proofreading the English text. I most appreciate Stefan Boeters' help. With unlimited patience, Stefan answered all my silly questions and gave his time for extensive discussions on all aspects of my dissertation. He improved large parts by tirelessly pointing to inconsistencies iv Acknowledgements and imprecise formulations. Without complaints, he read my writing attempts for the hundredth time – and returned them with hundreds of comments each time.