This setting lets you change the way you view articles. You can choose to have articles open in a dialog window, a new tab, or directly in the same window.
Open in Dialog
Open in New Tab
Open in same window
Open in New Tab
Open in same window
American Economic Review: Vol. 97 No. 4 (September 2007)
AER Volume. 97, Issue 4 | 
Previous Article
Sign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter
AER Forthcoming Articles
Full-text Article
Download Data Set (30.47 KB) | Link to Additional Materials (73.27 KB)
Previous Article
Expand
Quick Tools:
Print Article Summary Email Link to this Article Export CitationSign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter
Explore:
AER Forthcoming Articles
Goodbye Lenin (or Not?): The Effect of Communism on People
Article Citation
Alesina, Alberto, and
Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln. 2007. "Goodbye Lenin (or Not?): The Effect of Communism on People."
American Economic Review,
97(4): 1507-1528.
DOI: 10.1257/aer.97.4.1507
DOI: 10.1257/aer.97.4.1507
Abstract
Preferences for redistribution, as well as the generosity of welfare states, differ significantly across countries. This paper tests whether there exists a feedback process of the economic regime on individual preferences. We exploit the experiment of German separation and reunification to establish exogeneity of the economic system. We find that, after German reunification, East Germans are more in favor of state intervention than West Germans. This effect is especially strong for older cohorts. We further find that East Germans' preferences converge toward those of West Germans. It will take one to two generations for preferences to converge completely. (JEL D12, D72, H11, H23, P26)
Article Full-Text Access
Full-text Article
Additional Materials
Download Data Set (30.47 KB) | Link to Additional Materials (73.27 KB)
Authors
Alesina, Alberto
Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola
Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola
