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Out-of-Partnership Births in East and West Germany

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  • Uwe Jirjahn
  • Cornelia Struewing

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Uwe Jirjahn & Cornelia Struewing, 2019. "Out-of-Partnership Births in East and West Germany," Research Papers in Economics 2019-06, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:trr:wpaper:201906
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    Cited by:

    1. Cornelia Chadi & Uwe Jirjahn, 2019. "Does Society Influence the Gender Gap in Risk Attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany," Research Papers in Economics 2019-01, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    2. Uwe Jirjahn & Martha Ottenbacher, 2023. "Big Five personality traits and sex," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 549-580, April.
    3. Nadia Sturm & Judith C. Koops & Roberta Rutigliano, 2023. "The Influence of Partnership Status on Fertility Intentions of Childless Women and Men Across European Countries," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-34, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unpartnered birth; gender role models; culture; East Germany; West Germany; politico-economic systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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