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DEREGULATION OF TRADING HOURS IN THE GERMAN RETAIL SECTOR AND STORE SIZE

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Date Issued:
2014
Abstract/Description:
In 2006, the German federal government relinquished its power to determine store opening hours to the 16 federal states. Since then, substantial deregulation of shopping hours has occurred in all states except Bavaria and Saarland. Such deregulation could support economic growth, but it has been argued to hurt small businesses. Therefore, this thesis examines different store size categories to find possible effects of deregulation in Germany. Past studies have focused on the employment effects of deregulation, whereas this investigation employs a difference-in-difference approach with OLS regression on the number of stores in each size category. States that have extended store opening hours will be compared to those that have not. Theory predicts large stores to be more able to profit from efficiency gains and higher returns on investment due to extended hours. The results did not support the theoretical framework. Instead, the data indicate no significant effects on the number of stores and suggest that the constraints are not binding. Small businesses do not appear to have been affected by the change. If deregulation can be found to increase consumer spending and welfare, then such a policy change can have positive economic impacts. Further research should be aimed in this direction.
Title: DEREGULATION OF TRADING HOURS IN THE GERMAN RETAIL SECTOR AND STORE SIZE.
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Name(s): Preuss, Anne, Author
Guldi, Melanie, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2014
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: In 2006, the German federal government relinquished its power to determine store opening hours to the 16 federal states. Since then, substantial deregulation of shopping hours has occurred in all states except Bavaria and Saarland. Such deregulation could support economic growth, but it has been argued to hurt small businesses. Therefore, this thesis examines different store size categories to find possible effects of deregulation in Germany. Past studies have focused on the employment effects of deregulation, whereas this investigation employs a difference-in-difference approach with OLS regression on the number of stores in each size category. States that have extended store opening hours will be compared to those that have not. Theory predicts large stores to be more able to profit from efficiency gains and higher returns on investment due to extended hours. The results did not support the theoretical framework. Instead, the data indicate no significant effects on the number of stores and suggest that the constraints are not binding. Small businesses do not appear to have been affected by the change. If deregulation can be found to increase consumer spending and welfare, then such a policy change can have positive economic impacts. Further research should be aimed in this direction.
Identifier: CFH0004677 (IID), ucf:45303 (fedora)
Note(s): 2014-12-01
B.S.B.A.
Business Administration, Dept. of Economics
Bachelors
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): retailing
deregulation
Germany
difference-in-difference
Ladenschlussgesetz
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004677
Restrictions on Access: campus 2019-11-01
Host Institution: UCF

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