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The Caring Hand that Cripples: The East German Labor Market After Reunification (Detailed Version)

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Author Info
Dennis J. Snower
Christian Merkl

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Abstract

The East German labor market has hardly made any progress since German reunification, despite massive migration flows and support from the West. We argue that East Germany is in trouble precisely because of the support it has received. This paper explores the phenomenon of "the caring hand that cripples," arising from bargaining by proxy, the adoption of the West German welfare system and the associated employment persistence. Even the steady decrease of labor cost (normalized by productivity) since the beginning of the nineties did not help to kick start the East. We suggest that labor force participants fell into "traps," concerning low skills, ageing of the workforce, labor-saving capital and skills, capital underutilization, and unemployment arising from the decline of the tradeable sector.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Kiel Institute for the World Economy in its series Kiel Working Papers with number 1263.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:kie:kieliw:1263

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Related research
Keywords: German unification; labor markets; labor market traps;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
P2 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  4. David Coe & Dennis Snower, 1996. "Policy Complementarities: The Case for Fundamental Labor Market Reform," Archive Discussion Papers 9625, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
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  8. Burda, Michael C & Funke, Michael, 1991. "German Trade Unions After Unification: Third Degree Wage Discriminating Monopolists?," CEPR Discussion Papers 573, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Brücker, Herbert & Trübswetter, Parvati, 2004. "Do the Best Go West? An Analysis of the Self-Selection of Employed East-West Migrants in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 986, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  12. Regina Riphahn & Anja Thalmaier & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 1999. "Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen für Geringqualifizierte," IZA Research Reports 2, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  16. Michael C. Burda & Jennifer Hunt, 2001. "From Reunification to Economic Integration: Productivity and the Labor Market in Eastern Germany," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(2001-2), pages 1-92. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Bonin, Holger & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2000. "The Post-Unification German Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 185, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2006. "The Caring Hand that Cripples: The East German Labour Market after Reunification," CEPR Discussion Papers 5656, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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