On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap

Christoph Eder and Martin Halla

No 12031, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The East-West gap in the German population is believed to originate from migrants escaping the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We use newly collected regional data and the combination of a regression discontinuity design in space with a difference-in-differences approach to document that the largest part of this gap is due to a massive internal migration wave 3 years prior to the establishment of the GDR. The timing and spatial pattern of this migration movement suggest that the dominant motive was escaping physical assault by the Soviet army and not avoiding the socialist regime. The skill composition of these migrants shows a strong positive selection. The gap in population has remained remarkably sharp in space and is growing.

Keywords: institutions; wartime violence against civilians; selective migration; regional migration; World War II; Germany; spatial distribution; regional economic activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 N44 N94 R11 R12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2018-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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