KombiFiD is an acronym that stands for Kombinierte Firmendaten für Deutschland. The project is financially supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). It is a joint project of the Institute of Economics of Leuphana University Lueneburg, the research data centres of the German Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the German federal states, the Institute of Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency and the research department of the German Central Bank. The aim of the KombiFiD project is to link firm level data that are collected or prepared by different institutions for the first time in Germany. Linking these confidential firm level data across the borders of the data producers is technically not easy and it is legal only if the firm agreed in written form. The basic idea of the project KombiFiD is to ask a large sample of firms from all parts of the economy to agree to match confidential micro data for these firms from three data producers (the Statistical Offices, the Federal Employment Agency, and the German Central Bank) in one data set. These matched data are made available for scientific research while strictly obeying the data protection law, i.e. without revealing micro level information to researchers outside the data producing agencies. The papers describe the project in detail, inform how to access the data and discuss the quality of the linked data.

Autorentext
Joachim Wagner ist promovierter Volljurist und war bis Ende 2008 stellvertretender Leiter des ARD-Hauptstadtstudios. In dieser Funktion präsentierte er auch Bericht aus Berlin. Zuvor leitete er das ARD-Studio in London (1997 - 2002), und ab 1987 war er über fast zehn Jahre Leiter und Moderator für das renommierte NDR-Magazin Panorama. Im selben Zeitraum war er außerdem stellv. Chefredakteur der Hauptabteilung Zeitgeschehen des NDR.

Inhalt
Joachim Wagner Editorial KombiFiD Combined Firm Data for Germany Elena Biewen, Anja Gruhl, Christopher Gürke, Tanja Hethey-Maier, and Emanuel Weiß »Combined Firm Data for Germany« Possibilities and Consequences of Merging Firm Data from Different Data Producers Joachim Wagner The Quality of the KombiFiD-Sample of Enterprises from Manufacturing Industries: Evidence from a Replication Study Alexander Vogel and Joachim Wagner The Quality of the KombiFiD-Sample of Business Services Enterprises: Evidence from a Replication Study Elena Biewen KombiFiD: A First Glimpse of the Bundesbank Data European Data Watch Andrea Lengerer, Julia H. Schroedter, Mara Boehle, and Christof Wolf The GESIS Microcensus-Trendfile A New Database for the Study of Social Change Rosemarie Kay and Peter Kranzusch The IfM Bonn Founder Panel Design and Research Potential Daniela Hochfellner, Dana Müller, and Anja Wurdack Biographical Data of Social Insurance Agencies in Germany Improving the Content of Administrative Data Wolfgang Keck and Chiara Saraceno Multilinks Database on Intergenerational Policy Indicators Roland Olbrich, Martin F. Quaas, and Stefan Baumgärtner A Survey of Commercial Cattle Farmers in Semi-arid Rangelands of Namibia on Risk, Management and Sustainability