In Eastern Germany, wage differentiation between firms has clearly grown, parallel to individual wage differentials. Nevertheless, the wage spread between firms is still much less than in Western Germany. In this paper, a non-parametric decomposition is used to analyze the difference between the...

Geppert K., Gornig M. and Werwatz A. (2008) Economic growth of agglomerations and geographic concentration of industries: evidence for West Germany, Regional Studies. During the two decades between 1980 and 2000, there was no clear overall trend of economic convergence or divergence among West...

After 20 years of transition from an economy integrated in an exchange scheme of planned economies towards an open market economy based on the ideas of competition, we ask whether East German firms succeeded in finding their place in the international division of labour. We concentrate on the...

After 20 years of transition from an economy integrated in an exchange scheme of planned economies towards an open market economy based on the ideas of competition, we ask whether East German firms succeeded in finding their place in the international division of labour. We concentrate on the...

East German wages have been below the West German wage level since unification. Moreover, the East-West wage gap implied by the contractual wages specified in collective wage agreements is drifting ever further apart from the wagegap in terms of effective wages. This paper looks at the role of...

The vast majority of regions in West Germany, and the EU, have become more similar in terms of per-capita income and productivity between 1980 and 2000. But a number of rich areas - generally large agglomerations - have succeeded in departing from this trend of convergence. They are continuing...

Bei den Tariflöhnen gibt es in vielen Branchen kaum noch Unterschiede zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland. Betrachtet man aber die tatsächlich gezahlten Löhne und Gehälter, so liegen diese in Ostdeutschland um fast 20 % unter dem Niveau in Westdeutschland. Wichtige Ursachen dafür sind die...

The purpose of this paper is to sort out firm-related differences from effects that result from different economic structures. A non-parametric decomposition is used to analyse firm level difference between the wage spread in the two major regions of unified Germany. If firm-specific effects...

The vast majority of regions in West Germany, and the EU, have become more similar in terms of per-capita income and productivity between 1980 and 2000. But a number of rich areas - generally large agglomerations - have succeeded in departing from this trend of convergence. They are continuing...