West-East Convergence in the Prevalence of Illicit Drugs: Socioeconomics or Culture?

Arbeitspapier

In contrast to West-Germany, illicit drugs were virtually absent in the East-Germany until 1990. Yet, after the collapse of the former GDR, East-Germany was expected to encounter a sharp increase in the prevalence of substance abuse. By analyzing individual data, we find that East-Germany largely caught up with West-Germany?s ever-growing prevalence of illicit drugs within a single decade. We decompose the west-east difference in prevalence rates into an explained and an unexplained part using a modified Blinder-Oaxaca procedure. This decomposition suggests that the observed convergence is just weakly related to socioeconomic characteristics and therefore remains mainly unexplained. That is, West- and East-Germans seem to have become more alike per se. We conclude that both parts of the country have converged in terms of the culture of drug consumption.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Economics Discussion Papers ; No. 2008-8

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population ; Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
• Subject: illicit drugs ; west-east convergence ; decomposition ; Drogenkonsum ; Entwicklungskonvergenz ; Dekompositionsverfahren ; Schätzung ; Neue Bundesländer ; Alte Bundesländer ; Deutschland

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Tauchmann, Harald
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
• (where): Kiel
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/17980
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET