There is a successful and growing number of studies published in top-economics journals that exploit the division and re-unification of Germany as a natural experiment for analysing the effects of political regimes on economic behaviour. One strand of the literature shows that socialism shaped...

After the fall of the Berlin wall, the total fertility rate in East Germany tumbled from 1.7 (1989) to a stunning 0.7 children per woman (1994). While this fact is well-documented, little is still known about the crisis underlying causes. We propose a new explanation: permanent shifts in the...

1 Problemstellung¤ 2 Gang der Untersuchung¤ 3 Sozialhilfeaufwand und Empfänger/innen von Sozialhilfe¤ 3.1 Ausgaben für die Sozialhilfe. 3.2 Zahl und Struktur der Empfänger/innen von Sozialhilfeleistungen¤ 4 Wie groß ist der Lohnabstand?¤ 4.1 Der Sozialhilfeanspruch in Abhängigkeit von...

Inhalt: Nickel, Hildegard-Maria: Frauen und Arbeitsmarktforschung in der ehemaligen DDR (3 Thesen). - Engelbrech, Gerhard: Der Arbeitsmarkt für Frauen in den alten und neuen Bundesländern. - Schenk, Sabine: Qualifikationsstruktur und Qualifikationsbedarf erwerbstätiger Frauen in den neuen...

This empirical paper wants to analyze determinants for regional differences in German unemployment rates using a spatial panel model. The analysis of regional differences is of particular interest in the German case due to its specific history. Twenty-two years after German reunification, there...

In East Germany a profound demographic change has been taking place that manifests itself in the shrinkage and the aging of the population. One major cause is the drop in the East German fertility rates by about half directly after the reunification of Germany in 1990. In no other countries of...

Public sector activities are often neglected in economic approaches to analyze the driving forces of urban growth and changes in urban hierarchies. One crucial aspect of public sector activities is the institutional status of cities as regional capital. The paper is reporting on a quasi natural...