Does Germany have an East–West Problem? Regional Growth Patterns in Germany since Reunification

Maseland R. Does Germany have an East–West problem? Regional growth patterns in Germany since reunification, Regional Studies. This paper challenges the proposition that Germany suffers from an economic East–West gap. Since core–periphery patterns are common anywhere, peripheral East Germany should not be expected to converge to Western metropolitan areas. Studying growth patterns for cores and peripheries separately, no specific East–West differences in growth are found. Poor peripheries grow faster than richer ones throughout Germany, while income gaps among cores seem to be increasing. Since poorer cores are relatively prevalent in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), this resembles an East–West issue. In fact, the distribution of growth in Germany occurs along core–periphery lines rather than an East–West division.