1. Publications
  2. IWH Discussion Papers, 21/2016
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Social Distress and Economic Integration

We analyze whether social distress from income comparisons affects attitudes towards the integration of economies. Using Germany’s division as natural experiment, we find that East Germans’ feelings of relative deprivation with respect to better-off West Germans led to significantly more support for the upcoming German re-unification.

19. June 2016

Authors Walter Hyll Lutz Schneider

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Keywords

merger of populations natural experiment relative deprivation social comparisons economic integration

JEL Classification

D31 F15

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Professor Dr Lutz Schneider
Professor Dr Lutz Schneider

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