How much of a socialist legacy? The re-emergence of entrepreneurship in the East German
By: Fritsch, Michael
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2014Description: 427 - 446Subject(s): East Germany | Transformation | New Business Formation | Self-Employment | Entrepreneurship
In:
Small Business EconomicsSummary: We investigate how institutional change - the transition from a socialist system to a western type market economy- relates to the re-emergence of entrepreneurship in East Germany. This region is particularly well suited for such a study because of the rapid change of the institutional framework and the possibility to use West Germany as a benchmark. It took about 15 years until self-employment levels in East Germany reached those of West Germany. Despite this catch up, we find a number of peculiarities in East German self-employment that appear to be a continuing legacy of the socialist period. There is also a considerable correspondence of the regional levels of self-employment before, during and after the socialist period, suggesting the existence of a long-lasting regional entrepreneurship culture that can be regarded as an informal institution. This is in line with the hypothesis that informal institutions change much more slowly than formal institutions.
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Ahmedabad (HO) | (Browse shelf) | Vol. 43, Issue. 2 | Available | 018164 |
We investigate how institutional change - the transition from a socialist system to a western type market economy- relates to the re-emergence of entrepreneurship in East Germany. This region is particularly well suited for such a study because of the rapid change of the institutional framework and the possibility to use West Germany as a benchmark. It took about 15 years until self-employment levels in East Germany reached those of West Germany. Despite this catch up, we find a number of peculiarities in East German self-employment that appear to be a continuing legacy of the socialist period. There is also a considerable correspondence of the regional levels of self-employment before, during and after the socialist period, suggesting the existence of a long-lasting regional entrepreneurship culture that can be regarded as an informal institution. This is in line with the hypothesis that informal institutions change much more slowly than formal institutions.
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