Out-of-partnership births in East and West Germany

Abstract

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that single women in East Germany are significantly more likely to give birth to a child than single women in West Germany. This applies to both planned and unplanned births. Our analysis provides no evidence that the difference between East and West Germany can be explained by economic factors or the higher availability of child care in East Germany. This suggests that the difference in out-of-partnership births is rather driven by behavioral and cultural differences. However, these behavioral and cultural differences do not only reflect different gender role models that evolved under the former communist regime in East Germany and the democratic one in West Germany. Partly, they also reflect a long historical divide that predates the 1945 separation of Germany.

Does Society Influence the Gender Gap in Risk Attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany

“…Moreover, attitudinal evidence shows that single women in East Germany place a higher value of having children than single women in West Germany (Jirjahn and Struewing 2018b). Interestingly, behavioral differences conform also to these attitudinal differences.…”

“…East Germans have also a higher likelihood of unplanned out-of-partnership birth. However, in contrast to planned out-of-partnership birth, the higher likelihood of unplanned out-of-partnership birth appears to reflect historical factors predating the 1945 separation of Germany(Jirjahn and Struewing 2018b).7 An intergenerational transmission of gender role models should involve also an intergenerational correlation of risk preferences Dohmen et al (2012). provide evidence from Germany that there is indeed such an intergenerational correlation of risk preferences.…”

Big Five Personality Traits and Sex

“…For persons not married to the partner, we take into account whether or not the couple lives together in the same dwelling. Moreover, as East Germans appear to have more equal gender roles than West Germans (Jirjahn and Chadi 2020), we also include a dummy for residing in East Germany. Finally, wave and cohort dummies are included in the regressions.…”

Building Health across Generations: Unraveling the Impact of Early Childcare on Maternal Health

“…East and West Germany also differ in social preferences, gender role attitudes, family structure, fertility, female labour force participation, and family policies(Alesina & Fuchs-Schündeln, 2007, Boelmann et al, 2021, Campa & Serafinelli, 2019, Jirjahn & Chadi, 2020, Müller & Wrohlich, 2020.3 These statistics consider average estimates regardless of attending childcare. Children who attended (did not attend) childcare spent 18.6 hours (no hours) per working week in formal childcare, 39 hours (44.7 hours) with the mother, 18.4 hours (19.6 hours) with the extended family, and 0.5 hours (2.1 hours) in informal childcare(Felfe & Lalive, 2012).…”