Eastern Germany's recovery from the unification shock has been characterized by deep structural change - with apparent repercussions for the West as well - and an integration process involving both capital deepening (extensive and intensive investment) and labor thinning (net out-migration). I...

Using unique new data and a recently introduced non-linear decomposition technique this paper shows that the huge difference in the propensity to export between West and East German plants is to a large part due to differences in firm size and human capital intensity.

This paper provides a comparison of tax morale between inhabitants of East and West Germany in its post-reunification period, using three World Values Survey/European Values Survey waves between 1990 and 1999. German reunification is particularly interesting for the analysis of tax morale as it...

In the process of the German unification and especially after the formal unification in October 1990, Eastern Germany was supported by West Germany by a lot of measures. The main purposes were to improve the infrastructure, to stimulate private investment and to alleviate the adjustment process...

Why do borders still matter for economic activity? The reunification of Germany in 1990 provides a unique natural experiment for examining the effect of political borders on trade both in the cross-section and over time. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rapid formation of a political and...

Regarding technological innovativeness, the transformed economy of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) clearly lags behind the Western part of the country. To face this weakness, a broad mixture of policy measures was carried out in recent years. Particular attention is drawn to the...

German urban renewal programs are favoring the cities in the Eastern part since the reunification in 1990. This was accompanied additionally by attractive tax incentives, designed as an accelerated declining balance method of depreciation for housing investments during the late 1990s. The...

Das Mietniveau zwischen Westdeutschland und Ostdeutschland unterscheidet sich im Durchschnitt um weniger als einen Euro pro Quadratmeter. Dieser geringe Unterschied ist angesichts der wirtschaftlichen Schwäche und der hohen Leerstandsrate in Ostdeutschland erklärungsbedürftig. An einem Sample...

The present paper sheds light on how growth of young firms is affected by expansive strategies and the socioeconomic heritage of their main actors. Socioeconomic heritage has to do with socialization, prior socioeconomic circumstances, and regional growth conditions; the term is elaborated upon...

Using register data from the IAB employment sample, this paper studies the wage structure in the German labor market throughout the years 1992-2001. Wage dispersion has generally been rising. The increase was more pronounced in East Germany and occurred predominantly in the lower part of the...