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The Division and Reunification of Germany and the “Effects” of Communism

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  • Sascha O. Becker
  • Lukas Mergele
  • Ludger Wößmann

Abstract

The division of Germany into the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and its reunification in 1990 provide a framework for analyzing the effects of communism. Never before has such an unexpected introduction and abolition of a communist regime occurred in part of the territory of a country that was united before and after. However, this paper argues that the effects of communism cannot be directly deduced from this period of German history.

Suggested Citation

  • Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Wößmann, 2020. "The Division and Reunification of Germany and the “Effects” of Communism," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(05), pages 48-51, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifosdt:v:73:y:2020:i:05:p:48-51
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 531-596.
    2. Pamela Campa & Michel Serafinelli, 2019. "Politico-Economic Regimes and Attitudes: Female Workers under State Socialism," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 233-248, May.
    3. Bauernschuster, Stefan & Falck, Oliver & Gold, Robert & Heblich, Stephan, 2012. "The shadows of the socialist past: Lack of self-reliance hinders entrepreneurship," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 485-497.
    4. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 143-171, Spring.
    5. Quentin Lippmann & Alexandre Georgieff & Claudia Senik, 2020. "Undoing Gender with Institutions: Lessons from the German Division and Reunification," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(629), pages 1445-1470.
    6. Goldfayn-Frank, Olga & Wohlfart, Johannes, 2020. "Expectation formation in a new environment: Evidence from the German reunification," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 301-320.
    7. Michael Wyrwich, 2019. "Historical and current spatial differences in female labour force participation: Evidence from Germany," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 211-239, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Wößmann, 2021. "Es liegt nicht alles am Sozialismus — über Ost-West-Unterschiede und ihre Ursprünge [It Is Not All Because of Socialism — On East-West Differences and Their Origins]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(1), pages 32-36, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Politisches System; Nationale Einheit; Westdeutsche Bundesländer; DDR; Kommunismus; Zeitgeschichte;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • P27 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Performance and Prospects
    • P50 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

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