Subsidies granted by the German federal government decreased in the 1998–2004 period. Since 2005, subsidies have increased. The transfers to the compulsory health insurance system were raised by very large amounts. Moreover, the subsidies for re-integrating the unemployed were raised. The...

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...

Die Finanzhilfen der Bundesländer und ihrer Gemeinden sind beträchtlich. Für das Jahr 2001 wurde ein Betrag von insgesamt 70,6 Mrd. Euro ermittelt. Er entspricht mehr als der Hälfte des gesamten Lohnsteueraufkommens, das freilich um das Kindergeld reduziert ist, oder 3,4 Prozent des...

In den Jahren seit der deutschen Vereinigung hat sich die Situation auf dem Wohnungsmarkt Ostdeutschlands grundlegend verändert. Herrschte zu DDR-Zeiten und anfangs der neunziger Jahre schwerer Wohnungsmangel, so stehen inzwischen über eine Million Wohnungen leer. Die Gründe des...

Economic policy interventions of a scale as effected in eastern Germany can be expected to have a significant impact on the economy, which may be in accordance with the objectives of the policy measures or manifest itself in distortions of several kinds. This paper analyzes the structural...

The East German labor market has hardly made any progress since German reunification, despite massive migration flows and support from the West. We argue that East Germany is in trouble precisely because of the support it has received. This paper explores the phenomenon of "the caring hand that...

We investigate the effects of the most important East German active labour market programmes on the labour market outcomes of their participants. The analysis is based on a large and informative individual database coming from administrative data sources. Using matching methods, we find that...