Economic Capability of East German Regions: Results of a Cluster Analysis
Franz Kronthaler
Regional Studies,
No. 6,
2005
Abstract
This paper analyses the economic capability of East German regions compared with West German regions. Based on new growth theory and new economic geography, and using relevant empirical literature, regions are clustered according to a set of growth factors. The clustering results find little evidence that the economic capability of East German regions is already comparable with West German regions. Economic disadvantages are particularly rooted in lower technical progress, a lack of entrepreneurship, lower business and industrial concentration, and a loss of human capital. However, there are a few East German regions with a high economic capability, but even those suffer from economic disadvantages such as lower technical progress, lower industrial activity and a poorer regional accessibility.
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Is women's employment higher in East than in West Germany?
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2005
Abstract
Die Partizipation von ostdeutschen Frauen am Erwerbsleben wird in der öffentlichen Diskussion unterschiedlich beurteilt: Zum einen wird behauptet, die ostdeutschen Frauen würden deutlich stärker am Arbeitsleben teilnehmen als die westdeutschen. Dem steht die Auffassung gegenüber, dass sich die Erwerbsbeteiligung der ostdeutschen Frauen weitgehend an die Verhältnisse im Westen angeglichen hat. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass bei in etwa gleich hoher Erwerbstätigenquote in Ost- und Westdeutschland in etwa gleich viele Frauen in den Arbeitsmarkt integriert sind. Aus diesem Blickwinkel ist in Ostdeutschland die Frauenbeschäftigung so hoch wie in Westdeutschland. Die Erwerbsquote der Frauen liegt dagegen in Ostdeutschland über der in Westdeutschland. Sie weist darauf hin, dass unter den gegenwärtigen Verhältnissen im Osten nach wie vor mehr Frauen den Wunsch haben, erwerbstätig zu sein, als im Westen. Dieser Wunsch lässt sich allerdings unter den gegenwärtigen Arbeitsmarktbedingungen weder im Osten noch im Westen realisieren.
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East Germany's original economic power still weaker as supposed
Harald Lehmann, Udo Ludwig, Joachim Ragnitz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2005
Abstract
Die Nachfrage in den neuen Ländern wird zu rund einem Viertel durch Transferzuflüsse aus Westdeutschland gestützt. Grund hierfür ist vor allem, dass die in Ostdeutschland selbst erzielten Beiträge zu den Sozialversicherungen (Arbeitslosenund Rentenversicherung) nicht ausreichen, die Ansprüche der Leistungsempfänger zu decken. Darüber hinaus wird auch die schwache Finanzkraft der ostdeutschen Länder in erheblichem Maße durch Leistungen des Bundes und der westdeutschen Länder aufgestockt. Ohne diese West-Ost- Transfers könnte das materielle Wohlstandsniveau in den neuen Ländern in bisheriger Höhe nicht aufrechterhalten werden. Bislang nicht untersucht wurde aber, wie sich diese Transferleistungen auf das ostdeutsche Bruttoinlandsprodukt auswirken. Dieses Forschungsdefizit wird in diesem Beitrag geschlossen.
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Eastern Germany in the process of catching-up: the role of foreign and Western German investors in technological renewal
Jutta Günther, Oliver Gebhardt
Eastern European Economics,
No. 3,
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment as a means to support system transformation and the ongoing process of catching-up development has caught researcher’s attention for a number of Central and Eastern European countries. Not much research, however, has been carried out for East Germany in this respect although FDI plays an important role in East Germany too. Descriptive analysis by the use of unique survey data shows that foreign and West German affiliates perform much better with respect to technological capability and labor productivity than domestic companies in East Germany. The results of the regression analysis, however, show that it is not the status of ownership as such that forms a significant determinant of innovativeness in East Germany but rather general firms specific characteristics attached to it such as firm size, export-intensity, technical state of the equipment, and R&D activities. Due to the fact that foreign and West German affiliates perform better with respect to exactly all of these characteristics, they can be considered as a means to support the process of technological renewal and economic development.
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Current trends: percentage of employments liable to social insurance larger in East Germany than in West Germany
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 1,
2005
Abstract
Die Arbeitsplatzdichte ist in den einzelnen Bundesländern sehr unterschiedlich. Je 1 000 Erwerbsfähige – das sind alle Personen im Alter von 15 bis 65 Jahren – sind in Bremen fast 60% mehr Personen erwerbstätig als in Brandenburg. Erhebliche Unterschiede bestehen auch hinsichtlich der Art von Beschäftigungsverhältnissen innerhalb der Landesgrenzen. In allen ostdeutschen Ländern, die gemeinsam mit Berlin über die geringste Zahl von Arbeitsplätzen je 1 000 Erwerbsfähigen verfügen, ist der Anteil der sozialversicherungspflichtigen Vollzeitbeschäftigten höher als in den westdeutschen Ländern.
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Reasons for low productivity in companies in East Germany and acceding countries
Johannes Stephan
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 16,
2004
Abstract
Erfahrungsgemäß können Produktivitätsunterschiede
zwischen West- und Osteuropa nur ungenügend
durch landes- und regionenspezifische Bedingungen
erklärt werden. Das IWH hat im Rahmen einer
Feldstudie eine Reihe möglicher unternehmensspezifischer
Ursachen geringerer Produktivitätsniveaus
in Ostdeutschland, Polen, Tschechien und
Ungarn gegenüber Westdeutschland getestet.
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Technology spillovers from external investors in East Germany: no overall effects in favor of domestic firms
Harald Lehmann, Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 198,
2004
Abstract
The study deals with the question whether external (foreign and West German) investors in East Germany induce technological spillover effects in favor of domestic firms. It ties in with a number of other econometric spillover studies, especially for transition economies, which show rather mixed and inconclusive results so far. Different from existing spillover analyses, this study allows for a much deeper regional breakdown up to Raumordnungsregionen and uses a branch classification that explicitly considers intermediate and investment good linkages. The regression results show no positive correlation between the presence of external investors and domestic firms’ productivity, no matter which regional breakdown is looked at (East Germany as a whole, federal states, or Raumordnungsregionen). Technology spillovers which may exist in particular cases are obviously not strong enough to increase the domestic firms’ overall productivity.
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East German construction firms on the average with small profits
Brigitte Loose, Udo Ludwig
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 14,
2004
Abstract
The article is concerned with the cost and revenue situation in East and West German construction firms from the early 90´s onwards. As a result of the construction boom the East German firms could reduce the unit labour costs in the middle of the nineties under the corresponding western level. However, in the second half of the nineties they lost their advantage due to extremely decreasing productivity and rising unit labour costs. Nonetheless, on the average they earned profits, but in the observed last two years 2001 and 2002 the rate of return in the East remains smaller than in the West.
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Development of tax revenues in the new Länder - an east-west comparison -
Kristina vanDeuverden
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 196,
2004
Abstract
In 2003 tax revenue in the new Länder were about 30% of the level in the old Länder. The survey analyses the current situation, the structures and the development since unification. The paper concludes that caused by the current tax system a further convergence of tax receipts could not have been expected – and should not be expected within the next years.
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Flexible utilization of labor strengthens industrial enterprises´ ability to adapt to fluctuations in business - an empirical east-west comparison based on the IAB company panel
Brigitte Loose, Udo Ludwig
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 12,
2004
Abstract
Based on an individual data set, this article investigates the question of which conventional methods and new instruments companies use to adapt to fluctuations in business and what distinguishes these companies from other ones which have not implemented such instruments. In particular, the role of the technical equipment as well as the personnel policy and tariff policy are analyzed. An empirical comparison between the East and West German manufacturing industries demonstrates whether East German firms have competitive advantages. While the technological conditions for firms´ flexibility are somewhat less pronounced in East German, the proportion of “standardized“ and flexible employment is nearly the same in the East-West comparison. Differences exist among small, middle-sized and large firms as well as among types of yield. The weak orientation with respect to agreed wages and hours worked as well as the mainly gratuitous reduction of unpaid overtime which can be implemented over the whole year, prove to be an advantage. The investigation is based on a data set from the IAB company panel of manufacturing industries in 2003.
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