The paper analyses innovation features in the German financial sector. The first topic is persistence of innovation. Our research question is: Do innovators plan further innovation for the subsequent year? In addition, since the sector is so far poorly researched, very basic questions are investigated in the paper: the relationship between firm size and innovation (both linear and quadratic), as well as the impact of market structure on innovation (i.e. Schumpeterian and neo-Schumpeterian hypotheses). Finally, Suttons argument of R & D sunk costs is investigated as a possible explanation for persistence. Basing on the CIS IV survey, our empirical evidence is consistent with the results of similar researches carried out in different sectors.
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