East Germany Today: Successes and Failures

Twenty years after the collapse of the GDR the situation
in the new Laender has improved greatly: standards of living for the population have increased substantially, the capital stock in the business sector has been modernized, and also the improved environmental situation and the well developed infrastructure are visible signs for the progress that has been achieved since 1989.

Nevertheless, in many fields of economic performance there are still substantial gaps between eastern and western Germany. A further problem is that the convergence of macroeconomic indicators, such as per capita GDP or productivity, has been proceeding only slowly for a long time.

This raises the question about the causes and the perspectives for the eastern German economy. Another matter of interest is the current course of action as well as the
need for action when it comes to economic policies.