Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/3889 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2066
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The East German labor market has hardly made any progress since German reunification, despite massive migration flows and support from the West. We argue that East Germany is in trouble precisely because of the support it has received. This paper explores the phenomenon of "the caring hand that cripples," arising from bargaining by proxy, the adoption of the West German welfare system and the associated employment persistence. Even the steady decrease of labor cost(normalized by productivity) since the beginning of the nineties did not help to kick start the East. We suggest that labor force participants fell into "traps," concerning low skills, ageing of the workforce, labor-saving capital and skills, capital underutilization, and unemployment arising from the decline of the tradable sector.
Subjects: 
Labor markets
German unification
JEL: 
P2
E24
J3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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