Still different after all these years: Solidarity behavior in East and West Germany

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2011
Volume: 95
Issue: 11
Pages: 1373-1376

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Using data from laboratory experiments, we find that East Germans show consistently less solidarity than West Germans; there has been no convergence in the 20years after the reunification. While it has recently been estimated that political values converge 20 to 40years after the reunification (Alesina and Fuchs-Schündeln, 2007), we conclude from our findings that social behavior changes more slowly than political values. We hypothesize that this is due to complementarities involved in individual social behavior and the necessity to coordinate on social norms on the society level.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:95:y:2011:i:11:p:1373-1376
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-24