Research and Research Data

The main purpose of research conducted by the Bundesbank is to develop and consolidate academic expertise in the fields of economics, banking and financial stability. This expertise is reflected in studies, which are published either as papers in leading specialist journals or as part of other analytical studies.

Research Centre

Discussion Papers
RDSC

Panel on Household Finances (PHF)
Research Centre

© Alexander Magerl

The employees of the Research Centre focus on economic research. In addition, economists of the Directorate General Banking and Financial Supervision, the Economics Department and the Financial Stability Department are also concerned with research-oriented work.

Research Centre
Firms’ returns to scale: new evidence from European firm-level data

© Adobe Stock / LaSa

The advantages or disadvantages firms experience as a result of their size, referred to in the economic literature as returns to scale, are of central importance in many economic models. Increasing returns to scale, whereby unit costs decrease as output volume increases, could explain productivity differences between Europe and the United States. We present fresh evidence on the returns to scale of European firms: most exhibit constant returns to scale, but a non-trivial share also show increasing returns to scale.

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Research Data and Service Centre (RDSC)

© Olaf Dziallas

The RDSC provides researchers access to selected microdata from the Bundesbank's data records for independent and non-commercial scientific research projects on basis of the legal requirements. The RDSC is the mediator between the Bundesbank’s wide range of different micro data in various departments and – on the other side – researchers or analysts. In connection with this, the RDSC is responsible for the methodological improvement, the access of and the comprehensive documentation of the high-quality microdata. It also offers additional consultancy and support services to existing and prospective data users and satisfies data protection requirements.

Research Data and Service Centre (RDSC)