The Nordic countries are known for their success in combining an extensive welfare state with high labor force participation. This is explained by the origins of their welfare states that can be traced to a unique set of values and beliefs that emphasize the right of women to participate in the...

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...

Eastern Germany’s recovery from the “unification shock” has been characterized by deep structural change – with apparent repercussions for the West as well – and an integration process involving both capital deepening (extensive and intensive investment) and labor thinning (net...

Analysis in terms of the two-sector open economy shows that in bringing the market economy to East Germany, West Germany seems to have disregarded important fundamentals. Premature formation of a currency union led to a substantial real appreciation of the East German currency. Premature...

Economic restructuring in the transition from plan to market concerns the way enterprises try to achieve competitive advantage. Therefore, enterprises have to decide where to compete, that is to say with which product they should enter which markets, and how to compete, that is by which strategy...

This paper presents error correction estimates of a simple interdependent model of the labour market using monthly data over 1990-1994 for the industrial sector in Poland and Hungary. The aim is to investigate three issues in the performance of labour markets during transition. First, is there a...

In a transforming economy there is a common legacy of most companies: their low competitiveness as the result of an obsolete capital stock and overmanning, insufficient product quality that does not satisfy demand, distorted specialization patterns, high and partly ill-designed integration,...

Economic re-integration after a long period of separation among countries with different levels of development is expected to start in border regions. Enterprises along the borderline can gain a rent due to low transport and transaction costs. They benefit from the fortunate opportunity of...

In the five years after unification, efforts to bring up the eastern part of Germany to the level of the western one have made considerable progress. Eastern Germany's growth is moving towards the double digits, just like growth in the Pacific Rim region. But not all things have developed as...

The dynamics of privatization in the Eastern Germany can be better understood in terms of the 'economic polities' applied to the 'political markets'. The Treuhandanstalt played a key role in transforming the entire economy of the former GDR into the market economy in the wake of unification of...