Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/194353 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 337
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that single women in East Germany are significantly more likely to give birth to a child than single women in West Germany. This applies to both planned and unplanned births. Our analysis provides no evidence that the difference between East and West Germany can be explained by economic factors or the higher availability of child care in East Germany. This suggests that the difference in out-of-partnership births is rather driven by behavioral and cultural differences. However, these behavioral and cultural differences do not only reflect different gender role models that evolved under the former communist regime in East Germany and the democratic one in West Germany. Partly, they also reflect a long historical divide that predates the 1945 separation of Germany.
Subjects: 
Unpartnered birth
gender role models
culture
East Germany
West Germany
politico-economic systems
JEL: 
J12
J13
P20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





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