Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33176 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1891
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper delivers new insights into the development of income inequality and regional stratification in Germany after unification using a new method for detecting social stratification by a decomposition of the GINI index which yields the obligatory between- and within-group components as well as an overlapping index for the different sup-populations. We apply this method together with a jackknife estimation of standard errors. We find that East Germany is still a stratum on its own when using post-government income, but since 2001 no longer is when using pre-government income. These results remain stable when using alternatively defined regional classifications. However, there are also indications of some regional variation within West Germany. Overall, these findings are important for the political discussion with respect to a potential regional concentration of future transfers from East to West Germany.
Subjects: 
inequality decomposition
Gini
stratification
German unification
regional disparities
SOEP
JEL: 
C81
D31
D63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
417.31 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.