This paper investigates determinants of convergence in GDP per capita in the euro area and the EU between 1995 and 2021. It finds that the COVID-19 crisis temporarily slowed convergence but the estimated negative impact is significantly smaller than during the global financial crisis. Diverging...

After an initial take-off during the first eight years following unification, the Eastern German economy started to stall and regress to its old growth path of the 1950s and 1960s. The initial quick convergence only compensated for the dismal stagnation that the expropriation and concentration...

This paper contributes to the discussion on the European current account imbalances by analysing the intra-European trends since 1990 based on the theory of optimum currency areas. The authors show that German unification was the origin of not only the 1992-93 EMS crisis but also rising...

The merger of the two German states brings together countries with divergent economic systems, different trade orientations and a rift in terms of wealth. Transforming the East German system into a social market economy raises enormous internal and external adjustment problems in a period in...

The task of vitalizing the east German economy was severely underestimated - by politicians as well as by both the academic and the business community. Despite all the encouraging signs in east Germany, which undeniably exist, the process will take more time, require more money, and need more...

When German unification took place in 1990, the government was optimistic that the process of closing the economic gap between the two Germanies would be a brief one. However, economic unification has turned out to be more costly and much more complex than anticipated. But on the other hand it...