How permanently do political systems shape us? : evidence from the second decade of the reunification process

Abstract

"This article studies the 'mental' discrepancies and differences in the perception of economically relevant preference parameters, such as trust and attitude to risk, between the people of the eastern and western parts of Germany and poses the question: Can any convergence be detected between the values studied for East and West? The results show that in certain economically relevant dimensions differences between East and West do still exist, even after 20 years of the reunification process. With regard to attitude to risk, the assimilation process was concluded in the second decade of reunification. For the most general measure of social trust, full convergence is only likely to be attained in about ten years. For East-West differences in the perception of fairness and willingness to cooperate, no statistically significant convergence has been measurable up to now." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Heineck, G. & Süßmuth, B. (2011): Wie nachhaltig prägen uns politische Systeme? Evidenz aus der zweiten Dekade des Wiedervereinigungsprozesses. In: Ifo Dresden berichtet, Vol. 18, No. 2, p. 23-26.