FDI Micro Database – Methodological Note – Survey 2012 in East Germany
Jutta Günther, Andrea Gauselmann, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek, Jan Engelhardt
One-off Publications,
2012
Abstract
With the integration of post-communist countries into the European and global economy
after 1990, there was strong research interest into the role of multinational enterprises
(MNEs) for economic restructuring and technological catching-up. Most of the existing
empirical studies on locational determinants of FDI and host country effects did not take
account of East Germany. This might be for different reasons: Firstly, theoretical and
empirical difficulties derive from the fact that East Germany followed a distinct transition
pattern as it became a region subsumed in a larger and more mature economy. Secondly,
East Germany received private investment from foreign as well as West German firms. Only
the first can be considered as a foreign direct investment (FDI). Finally, there had long been
a lack of micro data to adequately analyse the activities of corresponding firms from a
production as well as technological perspective.
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New Tendencies in Competition Between Cities and Regions: Empirical Results from Case Studies in Germany and Austria
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Economy and Geography,
2013
Abstract
It is often discussed that during the last decades, due to several new developments, locational competition at the local and regional scale has changed its appearance and has increased significantly, all over Europe. Modern economic theories are suggesting that some locational factors have become more important than in previous times and might have led to changing conditions for the competition between cities and regions. The intention of the paper is to bring more light into this discussion and to illustrate, with the help of case studies, whether locational competition has really become more intensive, and / or whether new categories of competition have evolved.
The paper is based on the work of an interdisciplinary research group which was initiated and partially financed by the German National Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung, ARL). The paper’s first part is reporting on a survey of recent theoretical and empirical literature on locational competition and has the task to classify the new tendencies systematically. The second part of the paper is presenting the results of case studies, which were carried out in order to find out about the importance of the expected changes in selected cities and regions in Germany and Austria. The main findings may be characterized as follows. For several cities and regions, we found out that the decrease of transportation and transaction costs had positive impacts on local and regional development, as within these cities and regions, industries are concentrated which benefit from technologies which are connected to transportation or transaction costs. Also for some regions, a positive impact of the downsizing of administrative borders was found – although especially in Eastern Germany, the process of catching up was restrained by agglomeration economies in the West. Although the impact of the new categories of locational competition on the economic development of the case cities and regions was, overall, limited, there was an important impact on the creation of new strategies by local and regional policymakers.
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East Germany: Number of subsidized employment has declined significantly
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 11,
2012
Abstract
The share of subsidized employment on total employment has declined significantly. But it is still well above the West German level. The decline in subsidized employment is compensated by a sharp increase in non-supported employment. The decline in unemployment has flattened out.
Due to the lower economic growth in the forecasting horizon the number of employees will increase only slightly. Subsidized employment will further decline, also because of more efficient use of labour policy instruments this year. The unemployment rate will amount to 10.4% in 2012 and to 10.2% in 2013.
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The Causal Effect of Watching TV on Material Aspirations: Evidence from the “Valley of the Innocent”
Walter Hyll, Lutz Schneider
Abstract
The paper addresses the question of whether TV consumption has an impact on material aspirations. We exploit a natural experiment that took place during the period in which Germany was divided. Owing to geographical reasons, TV programs from the Federal Republic of Germany could not be received in all parts of the German Democratic Republic. Therefore, a natural variation occurred in exposure to West German television. We find robust evidence that watching TV is positively correlated with aspirations. Our identification strategy implies a causal relationship running from TV to aspirations. This conclusion resists various sets of alternative specifications and samples.
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Do Women Benefit from Competitive Markets? Product Market Competition and the Gender Pay Gap in Germany
Boris Hirsch, Michael Oberfichtner, Claus Schnabel
Economics Bulletin,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
Using a large linked employer–employee dataset for Germany with a direct plant-level measure of product market competition and controlling for job-cell fixed effects, we investigate whether relative wages of women benefit from strong competition. We find that the unexplained gender pay gap is about 2.4 log points lower in West German plants that face strong product market competition than in those experiencing weak competition, whereas no such link shows up for East Germany.
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Industrielle Güterstrukturen Ostdeutschlands im Wandel
Udo Ludwig, Brigitte Loose
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
In der Phase des marktwirtschaftlichen Umbaus standen die ostdeutschen Industriebetriebe auch vor der Wahl einer marktgerechten Produktstrategie. Sollten sie auf Spezialisierung oder Vielfalt des Angebots setzen? Der Beitrag analysiert die Ergebnisse in den Jahren 1997 und 2005 auf der Branchenebene im Ost-West-Vergleich und blickt auf die Situation am Ende der DDR zurück. Anhand von Mikrodaten der amtlichen Statistik werden die Branchenherkunft der erzeugten Produkte für die Jahre 1997 und 2005 ermittelt, auf Basis dieser Angaben Spezialisierungsgrade für Branchen und Gütergruppen berechnet und ausgewertet. Die Autoren kommen zu dem Schluss, dass sich in weniger als zwei Jahrzehnten die Grobstruktur der in Ostdeutschland hergestellten Industriegüter deutlich an die Verhältnisse in Westdeutschland angenähert hat. So bilden inzwischen in Ost- wie in Westdeutschland dieselben Gütergruppen die Top Fünf. Unterschiede bestehen allerdings weiterhin in der Rangfolge der Gütergruppen und in den Abständen innerhalb der Rangfolge.
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Internationalisation Theory and Technological Accumulation - An Investigation of Multinational Affiliates in East Germany
Björn Jindra
Studies in Economic Transition,
2012
Abstract
The integration of post-communist countries into the European and global economy after 1990 has led to a renewed interest in the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in economic restructuring and technological development. This book explains the expansion of MNEs into a transition economy from the technology accumulation perspective. Key assumptions of the technological accumulation approach towards firms' internationalisation are tested, using the examples of foreign and West German MNEs in East Germany. The effects of technological externalities on MNE location choice are analysed, in addition to an exploration of the factors driving the location of foreign affiliates' research and development (R&D) and innovation activities. The book provides a novel and comprehensive empirical approach to assess the developmental role of MNEs, deriving significant economic policy implications for transition and emerging economies.
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Quality of Work: An Investigation for East and West Germany for the Years 1994 and 2009
Herbert S. Buscher, S. Noack, M. Pelz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 12,
2011
Abstract
“Quality of work” – a mainly subjective judgement of employees about their work and the corresponding conditions gained momentum over the last decades. But contrary to quantitative aspects of work and worklife, the term “quality of work” is rather hard to measure and it consists of a mixture of many single indicators related to the worklife of employees. The spectrum of these single indicators range from health considerations up to a flexible management of the work time over a month or a year. The present work contributes to the discussion about the quality of work by introducing additional single indicators into the debate. These are commuting, carreer opportunities within a firm, individual satisfaction with the work income, and a correspondence between formal qualification and the present job. The investigation distinguishes between East and West Germany as well as between age cohorts and the qualification of the interviewed persons. The results are based on the GSOEP for the years 1994 and 2009. Looking at these two years we expect some insights into possible changes in the judgement with respect to the quality of work especially for East German employees shortly after the fall of the wall and nowadays. These insights should help to draw conclusions if East and West German employees are still different in their judgements or if a process of convergence in opions occurred.
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Political Institutionalisation and Governance of the German Metropolitan Regions: A Comparative Study
Peter Franz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 11,
2011
Abstract
In Germany, some cities and districts try to react to the challenges of global location competition by the constitution of metropolitan regions. Thus new forms of intermunicipal co-operation on a regional scale emerge. Within the context of a national policy for spatial development eleven such metropolitan regions have been defined in Germany, and local activities supporting their constitution were encouraged. In spite of differing results and success in the eleven regions this process of political institutionalisation has led to partially similar institutional forms. This study compares the institutionalisaton process in the German metropolitan regions with the help of an idealtype model of institutionalisation steps. In addition, the design of the comparative study also allows testing potential effects of intervening factors as the regions’ monocentricity / polycentricity and the existence of Laender borders in a region on cooperative success. The study comes to the result that so far only few metropolitan regions have reached the stage of advanced institutionalisation and co-operation. The diversity of the institutionalisation paths prevents a „best practice“ recommendation at the present state of knowledge. As the constitution process in the regions still proceeds in a highly dynamic way, this study should be repeated within a five years’ period.
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21 years old and a little bit more realistic?
Udo Ludwig
Deutschland Archiv – Zeitschrift für das vereinigte Deutschland,
2011
Abstract
East Germany`s development in the market economy shows ambiguous results. Although the re-structured economy proved itself to be growth orientated, the sustainable growth lead over the West German economy was attained only in the first half of the 1990s. Later on the catching up became smaller and smaller. Moreover employment recovered for the first time in the last upsw-ing before the global economic and financial crisis after the tremendous losses of jobs in the transitional period. Last but not least, as a result of low birth rates and emigration the shrinking number of inhabitants in East Germany could not be stopped. In the final analysis, long lasting repercussions of the inherited structures from GDR times are responsible for the backwardness of this region as well as the way of the economic transition in East Germany and regional differences in the settlements. Against this background the accomplishment of equal living standards in the eastern and western part of Germany should not be assessed in the light of medium per capita measures, but specified by comparisons between commensurable regions.
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