The travails of unification: East Germany's economic transition since 1989

Arbeitspapier

The former German Democratic Republic underwent a unique post-communist transition because it was absorbed into the wealthy Federal Republic of Germany and has received massive subsidies. Nonetheless, serious difficulties have persisted, including higher unemployment, rapid deindustrialization, and greater political loyalty to the successor parties of the former Communists than in the West. The reasons for these phenomena remain debated, but seem to the legacy of concealed structural weakness in the old GDR, perhaps the one-to-one conversion of East German savings into Deutschmarks, and the commitment to elevate wage levels in the East close to those prevailing in the FRG.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-92-9230-297-9
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2010/60

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: General ; Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions
• Subject: currency conversion ; deindustrialization ; market economy ; transition ; Treuhand ; unemployment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Maier, Charles S.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/54024
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET