Varieties of German Capitalism

If you are looking at Germany from a statistical point of view, you will see, that Germany is divided in two very different parts. These two regions correspond with the former state territories of the capitalist West-Ger-many and the socialist East-Germany. As you will know, both were reunited in 1990. Or better: the former German Democratic Republic was integrated into West-Germany. At that point of time most people thought, that only after some years East Germany would have caught up with the West. Now the transition from a socialist planned economy to a capitalist market economy is completed since a long while. But still today – almost sixteen years later – huge socioeconomic differences remain. To give you some impressions of that East-West divide (BBR 2005