research

new research

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Morell, A. (2025). Forum Shopping and Forum Selling in German Patent Litigation: A Quantitative Analysis. SAFE Working Paper No. 443, SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5150950 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5150950 (under review)

Abstract: Using data on all patent cases in front of German courts between 2010 and 2015 we find that plaintiffs in patent-infringement cases mainly chose the venue where to sue by the speed with which courts dispose of their cases. We also find that quality — measured, both, as the fraction of cases challenged in the next instance and the ratio of successful appeals in the year before filing — has an impact on court choice by patent plaintiffs. We can further show that plaintiffs merely shop between three German courts, namely Duesseldorf, Munich and Mannheim. Moreover, we find that once one of these three courts introduces an additional panel of three judges, thereby working faster, the other two courts increase their working speed, too. This indicates that, indeed, courts actively compete for cases. However, we do not find evidence for courts reacting to a competitor’s increase in speed by deciding in the plaintiffs favor more often or by deteriorating quality of decisions.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., Dwenger, N. and O. Ehrhardt (2025). IPOs in the Long Run: Institutional Change, Stock Market Consolidation and Firm Financing in Germany, 1897–2016   (Under Review)

Abstract: Does stock market consolidation, or the reduction in the number of trading venues, asymmetrically affect firms’ access to capital? We provide causal evidence that reduced local stock market access significantly impacts listing decisions, particularly for smaller firms. Firms that lose access to a nearby exchange respond by increasing their reliance on bank financing. Using a newly constructed data set covering all initial public offerings (IPOs) in Germany from 1897 to 2016, we show how stock market consolidation contributed to Germany’s transition from a hybrid financial system to a bank-based economy. Our analysis of long-term trends offers new insights into the evolution of financial markets and the role of economic geography in facilitating capital access.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Wahl, F. (2025) Bombs and Ballots: Wartime Experience and Political Preferences in the 1955 Saar Referendum (Revise and resubmit EJ)

Abstract: On 23 October 1955, the voters of Saarland were faced with a crucial decision when they were asked in a referendum to approve the Saarstatut, negotiated by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès-France in 1954. The Statute aimed to resolve the Saar dispute, which had become a major obstacle to Franco-German reconciliation and the integration of Western European states. Separated from Germany and economically linked to France since 1947, Saarland was proposed as the first ‘Europeanised’ state, autonomous in domestic policy, integrated into the Western European Union in foreign policy, and economically linked to France. With a 97% turnout, two-thirds of the votes were cast against the statute, thus initiating the reintegration of Saarland into Germany, which was completed on 1 January 1957. This study examines whether the war experience (destruction, occupation, expulsion) influenced nationalism and attitudes towards European integration. We test whether heavily affected areas were swayed by the Statute’s promise of peace, or whether war experiences deepened anti-French sentiments. We use official municipal data on destruction, reconstruction, and referendum outcomes, supplemented by a pre-referendum survey conducted by the Commission for Regional History and Research of the Saarland.

publications

Hesse, J.-O. , Knake, S., Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. (2026). Saving Behavior in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, in Köhler et al. (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Economic Expectations in Historical Perspective. Routledge, New York, p. 408-423.

Shigapov, R., Schmidt, T., Kamlah, J., Schumm, I., Streb, J., & Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. (2025). MBI-KG: A knowledge graph of structured and linked economic research data extracted from the 1937 book “Die Maschinen-Industrie im Deutschen Reich”. Data in Brief, 111238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2024.111238

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Opitz, A. (2024). Data Sources on the 19th and Early 20th Century German Capital Market: Challenges and Opportunities. German Economic Review. https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2024-0067

Gehlen, B. and Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. (2024). Über sieben Brücken musst Du gehen? Zum Verhältnis von Unternehmens- und (quantitativer) Wirtschaftsgeschichte, in: Nina Kleinöder u.a. (Hrsg.): Neue Perspektiven der Unternehmensgeschichte (Bochumer Schriften zur Unternehmens- und Industriegeschichte, N.F. Band 1), Paderborn u.a. p. 1-18.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., Wahl, F. (2024). Regional and Urban Development in Europe. In: Diebolt, C., Haupert, M. (eds) Handbook of Cliometrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_93-1

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. , Neumayer, A., & Streb, J. (2023). Heterogeneous inflation and deflation experiences and savings decisions during German industrialization. Journal of Banking & Finance, 154, 106978.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., Prettner, K., and Tscheuschner, P. (2023). The scientific revolution and its role in the transition to sustained economic growth. World Development, 168, 106262.

Fattmann, R., Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Spoerer, Mark (2022): “Gender”, in: Thomas Rahlf (ed.): Deutschland in Daten. Zeitreihen zur Historischen Statistik. Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Bonn.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Neumayer, A. (2022). The limits of control: corporate ownership and control of German joint-stock firms, 1869–1945. in Financial History Review, 29 (2), 152 – 197

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Streb. J (2021). Finanzierung von Innovationen durch die deutschen Börsen von 1896 bis 1932. In Zeitschrift für das gesamte Kreditwesen. (74), 36- 41.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Wahl, F. (2020): The German bank–growth nexus revisited: savings banks and economic growth in Prussia. Economic History Review, 74(1), 204-222.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., and Streb, J. (2020). Discrimination against Foreigners: The Wuerttemberg Patent Law in Administrative Practice. The Journal of Economic History, 80(4), 1071-1100.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Neumayer, A. (2019): Does the preference for investment in local firms rise in turbulent times? Evidence from the portfolio of Joseph Frisch, private banker (1923–55). Journal of Business History/Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, 64(1), 1-18.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Opitz, A. (2019): The value of active politicians on supervisory boards: evidence from the Berlin stock exchange and the parliament in interwar Germany. Scandinavian Economic History Review, 67(1), 71-89.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. and Streb, J. (2018): Does Social Security Crowd Out Private Savings? The Case of Bismarck’s System of Social Insurance. European Review of Economic History, 22(3), 298–321.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S and Streb, J. (2016): The Berlin Stock Exchange in Imperial Germany – a Market for New Technology? American Economic Review, 106(11), 3558–3576.

Burhop, C. and Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S. (2016): The Berlin stock exchange and the geography of German stock markets in 1913. European Review of Economic History, 20(4), 429-451.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., Hauber, P., Opitz, A. (2014): The political stock market in the German Kaiserreich – do markets punish the extension of the suffrage to the benefit of the working class? Evidence from Saxony. Journal of Economic History, 74 (4), 1140-1167.

Lehmann S. (2014): Taking Firms to the Stock Market: IPOs and the Importance of Large Banks in Imperial Germany 1896-1913. Economic History Review , 67(1), 92–122.

Lehmann-Hasemeyer, S., and Burhop, C. (2014). Die Geographie der deutschen Börsen im Wandel (1913 – 1937. Bankhistorisches Archiv, 40(1-2), 23-37.

Lehmann S. and O’Rourke K. H. (2011): The Structure of Protection and Growth in the Late 19th Century. Review of Economics and Statistics, 93(2), 606–616.

Lehmann S. and Volckart O. (2011): The Political Economy of Agricultural Protection in 19th Century Sweden. European Review of Economic History, 15(1), 29-59.

Lehmann S. (2011): Die Bedeutung der Emissionsbanken auf dem deutschen Aktienmarkt 1896-1913. Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte , 98(3), 331-340.

Lehmann S., (2010): Chaotic Shop-Talk or Efficient Parliament? The Reichstag, the Parties, and the Problem of Governmental Instability in the Weimar Republic. Public Choice, 144(1), 83- 104.

Lehmann S. (2010): The German elections in the 1870s: who caused the turn towards protectionism? Journal of Economic History, 70(01), 146-178.

Edited books

S. Lehmann-Hasemeyer and J. Hanitsch (Hg.) (2022). Gert Kollmer- von Oheimb-Loup, Südwestdeutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte.

C. Burhop and S. Lehmann-Hasemeyer (Hg.) (2018) Börsengeschichte / Stock Market History. Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte. De Gruyter.

G. Kollmer-von Oheimb-Loup, S. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Stefanie van de Kerkhof (Hg.) (2017) Ökonomie und Ethik. Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, (Stuttgarter Historische Studien zur Landes- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Band 28) ISBN: 978-3-7995-5579-1

G. Kollmer-von Oheimb-Loup, S. Lehmann, J. Streb (Hg.) (2014) Chancen und Risiken internationaler Integration. Mikro- und makroökonomische Folgen der Internationalisierung. Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, (Stuttgarter Historische Studien zur Landes- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Band 22) ISBN: 978-3-7995-5573-9