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From Socialist Showcase to Mezzogiorno? Lessons on the Role of Technical Change from East Germany's Post-World War II Growth Performance

Author

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  • Wolfgang Keller

    (University of Wisconsin and NBER)

Abstract
In this paper we emphasize the contribution of technical change, broadly defined, towards productivity growth in explaining the relative East Germany-West Germany performance during the post-World War II era. We argue that previous work was excessively focused on physical capital investments determining productivity differentials, which consequently led to an overestimation of the East German performance during the Socialist era, and an overly pessimistic assessment of the East German prospects of catching up with West Germany during the post-reunification era. We show, first, that the rates of technical change in the manufacturing industries of East German states were significantly below those in Western states, helping to account for the fact that East Germany was not the socialist showcase for which it was frequently taken before German reunification. Second, we demonstrate that the rates of technical change in the East German states have been considerably higher than those in the West since German reunification. This suggests that the Mezzogiorno prediction for East Germany--that it will stay persistently behind West Germany as does Italy's South relative to its North--, based on an analysis of the need for physical capital accumulation alone, will prove too pessimistic.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang Keller, 1997. "From Socialist Showcase to Mezzogiorno? Lessons on the Role of Technical Change from East Germany's Post-World War II Growth Performance," Development and Comp Systems 9707002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:9707002
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Peri & Dieter Urban, 2002. "The Veblen-Gerschenkron Effect of FDI in Mezzogiorno and East Germany," Development Working Papers 164, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    2. Falko Juessen, 2009. "A distribution dynamics approach to regional GDP convergence in unified Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 627-652, December.
    3. Burda, Michael C. & Weder, Mark, 2017. "The Economics of German Unification after Twenty-five Years: Lessons for Korea," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2017-009, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    4. Cristobal, Adolfo, 2007. "Trade and migration: a U-shaped transition in Eastern Europe," MPRA Paper 3446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Peri, Giovanni & Urban, Dieter, 2006. "Catching-up to foreign technology? Evidence on the "Veblen-Gerschenkron" effect of foreign investments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 72-98, January.
    6. Hans‐Werner Sinn, 2002. "Germany’s Economic Unification: An Assessment after Ten Years," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 113-128, February.
    7. Noland, Marcus & Robinson, Sherman & Wang, Tao, 2000. "Modeling Korean Unification," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 400-421, June.
    8. Barrell Ray & Willem te Velde Dirk, 2000. "Catching-up of East German Labour Productivity in the 1990s," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(3), pages 271-297, August.
    9. Adolfo Cristobal-Campoamor & Osiris Parcero, 2013. "Behind the Eastern–Western European convergence path: the role of geography and trade liberalization," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 51(3), pages 871-891, December.
    10. Falko Juessen, 2005. "A distribution dynamics approach to regional income convergence in reunified Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa05p411, European Regional Science Association.
    11. Brüll, Eduard & Gathmann, Christina, 2020. "Evolution of the East German wage structure," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-081, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Boltho, Andrea & Carlin, Wendy & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2018. "Why East Germany did not become a new Mezzogiorno," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 308-325.
    13. Burda, Michael C. & Severgnini, Battista, 2018. "Total factor productivity convergence in German states since reunification: Evidence and explanations," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 192-211.
    14. Burda, Michael C. & Severgnini, Battista, 2015. "TFP convergence in German states since reunification: Evidence and explanations," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2015-054, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    15. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2015-054 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Giovanni Peri & Dieter Urban, 2002. "The Veblen-Gerschenkron Effect of FDI in Mezzogiorno and East Germany," Development Working Papers 164, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    17. Frank Siebern, 2000. "Better LATE? Instrumental Variables Estimation of the Returns to Job Mobility during Transition," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(3), pages 335-362, August.
    18. Adolfo Cristobal Campoamor & Osiris Jorge Parcero, 2024. "Behind the Eastern-Western European convergence path: the role of geography and trade liberalization," Papers 2401.05107, arXiv.org.
    19. Marcus Noland & Sherman Robinson & Ligang Liu, 1999. "The economics of korean unification," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 255-299.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Catch-up and convergence; Solow growth model; identification of differences in the rate of technical change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • P5 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems

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