How much of a socialist legacy? The reemergence of entrepreneurship in the East German transformation to a market economy

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The 40 years of socialist regime in East Germany were characterized by a massive anti-entrepreneurship policy. We investigate the reemergence of entrepreneurship in East Germany during its transformation to a market economy following the collapse of the East German state in 1989. It took about 15 years until self-employment levels in East Germany reached those of West Germany. Despite this catch up, we find a number of peculiarities in East German self-employment that appear to be a continuing legacy of the socialist period. In particular, older and better-educated East Germans have a relatively low propensity for starting an own business. Moreover, East German workers tend to have a lower variety of skills than their West German counterparts, which could explain a lower propensity for start up in the early years after reunification. Despite this socialist imprint, we also find considerable continuity in the levels of self-employment in the 1920s and those after transition to a market economy, suggesting the existence of a long-lasting regional entrepreneurship culture.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Jena Economic Research Papers ; No. 2012,042

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Entrepreneurship ; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
• Subject: Entrepreneurship ; self-employment ; new business formation ; transformation ; East Germany ; Unternehmer ; Selbstständige ; Unternehmensgründung ; Wirtschaftliche Anpassung ; Neue Bundesländer ; Unternehmer ; Wirtschaftskultur ; DDR

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Fritsch, Michael ; Bublitz, Elisabeth ; Rusakova, Alina ; Wyrwich, Michael
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics
• (where): Jena
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/70178
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET