Following German reunification in 1990, East Germany's centrally planned economy was abolished and replaced by West Germany's social market economy. Western Germany has since provided vast financial support to aid the transformation, and enable eastern Germany to catch-up with western Germany's...

This paper summarises the institutional arrangements and prerequisites for a new social partnership, necessary for the successful completion of labour market reform in western Germany. It does this by drawing on key policies and proposals highlighted and explored in the papers of this special...

Wages in Eastern Germany have risen in excess of productivity growth. The usual argument is that this has been one of the main reasons for the unprecedented level of mass unemployment which has emerged in this decade. This paper argues, however, that the growth of wages, in combination with...