The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism

Becker, Sascha O.; Mergele, Lukas; Woessmann, Ludger

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3555591

Cited by 19 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In line with Becker et al (2020), this paper shows that research that exploits German division and reunification for analyzing the effect of political regimes on attitudes and economic behavior should carefully assess regional differences predating German division. There is also a general lesson for the growing amount of literature on the role of history on regional economic development (Nunn, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…The current paper picks up on the descriptive finding reported by Wyrwich (2019) and Becker et al (2020) that women's labor force participation was already higher in East Germany before 1945. The paper shows that there is no lasting socialist legacy effect for female labor participation measures beyond the first 25 years after reunification for which previous papers found legacy effects on attitudes (Bauernschuster & Rainer, 2012; Beblo & Goerges, 2018; Campa & Serafinelli, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Historical episodes and their legacies across space: A famous case revisited

Wyrwich

2022

Journal of Regional Science

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There is a growing amount of literature in economic geography showing that historical episodes can leave long‐lasting cultural and institutional legacies across space. For credibly identifying such persistent effects the analyses should not pick up trends preceding the respective episodes. Against this background, the paper re‐examines the famous case of the German division and reunification. The empirical focus is on the persistent mark‐up of women in work in East relative to West German regions that are often associated with legacy effects of the socialist regime that was in place in East Germany during the country's four decades of division. In contrast to the conventional wisdom in academia, policy, and the public, the current paper shows that the higher share of working women in East German regions is not due to a legacy of socialism. Female labor force participation was already remarkably higher in the East before the introduction of socialism. The general lesson is that any attempt to explain spatial variation in individual decision‐making by persisting institutional and cultural legacies of certain historical episodes needs to assess regional conditions predating these episodes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Historical episodes and their legacies across space: A famous case revisited

Wyrwich

2022

Journal of Regional Science

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“…To do so, we exploit the fact that the older cohort of Germans was raised in two radically different environments: liberal West Germany and the centrally planned GDR under Communist Party rule. Cultural–institutional differences between East and West Germany date back at least to the 15th century, with authoritarian social relations in the areas east of the Elbe River dominated by the Junker landlord class and with more liberal institutions in the German free cities in the south and throughout most of what came to be West Germany ( 25 – 27 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposition to voluntary and mandated COVID-19 vaccination as a dynamic process: Evidence and policy implications of changing beliefs

Schmelz

Bowles

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Significance The challenge of securing adherence to public health policies is compounded when an emerging threat and a set of unprecedented remedies are not fully understood among the general public. The evolution of citizens’ attitudes toward vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic offers psychologically and sociologically grounded insights that enrich the conventional incentives- and constraints-based approach to policy design. We thus contribute to a behavioral science of policy compliance during public health emergencies of the kind that we may increasingly face in the future. From early in the pandemic, we have tracked the same individuals, providing a lens into the conditions under which people’s attitudes toward voluntary and mandated vaccinations change, providing essential information for COVID-19 policy not available from cross-section data.

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“…18 Migration of those with specific political beliefs has also been shown to be important in the context of voluntary migration. Becker, Mergele and Woessmann (2020) document that, between the end of WWII and the construction of the Iron Curtain, 20% of East Germans left the Communist East. Individuals staying in East Germany differed from those who moved to the West.…”

Section: Norms and Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%