Out-of-Partnership Births in East and West Germany

48 Pages Posted: 21 May 2019

See all articles by Uwe Jirjahn

Uwe Jirjahn

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics

Cornelia Struewing

University of Trier

Abstract

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that single women in East Germany are significantly more likely to give birth to a child than single women in West Germany. This applies to both planned and unplanned births. Our analysis provides no evidence that the difference between East and West Germany can be explained by economic factors or the higher availability of child care in East Germany. This suggests that the difference in out-of-partnership births is rather driven by behavioral and cultural differences. However, these behavioral and cultural differences do not only reflect different gender role models that evolved under the former communist regime in East Germany and the democratic one in West Germany. Partly, they also reflect a long historical divide that predates the 1945 separation of Germany.

Keywords: unpartnered birth, gender role models, culture, East Germany, West Germany, politico-economic systems

JEL Classification: J12, J13, P20

Suggested Citation

Jirjahn, Uwe and Struewing, Cornelia, Out-of-Partnership Births in East and West Germany. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12234, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3390223 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3390223

Uwe Jirjahn (Contact Author)

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Trier, 54286
Germany

Cornelia Struewing

University of Trier ( email )

15, Universitaetsring
Trier, 54286
Germany

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