The big sell: Privatizing East Germany’s economy

Lukas Mergele, Moritz Hennicke and Moritz Lubczyk

Journal of Public Economics, 2025, vol. 242, issue C

Abstract: Departing from communism, East Germany witnessed history’s most extensive privatization program. While the program sparked global interest as a blueprint for economic transformation, its effectiveness remains disputed. Using unique firm-level data, we examine the program’s objective to privatize the most competitive firms. We document that firms with higher baseline productivity are more likely to be privatized, yield higher prices, are more often acquired by West Germans, and are more likely to survive 20 years later. Inspecting the inner workings of the privatization agency, we illustrate challenges and lessons for how governments can design and implement industrial policy goals.

Keywords: Privatization; Firm ownership; Labor productivity; German reunification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 G38 H11 L33 P31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Related works:
Working Paper: The big sell: Privatizing East Germany's economy (2025)
Working Paper: The Big Sell: Privatizing East Germany's Economy (2020)
Working Paper: The Big Sell: Privatizing East Germany’s Economy (2020)
Working Paper: The big sell: Privatizing East Germany's economy (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:242:y:2025:i:c:s0047272724002275

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105291

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