The promised “blossoming landscapes” have not been achieved in the eastern part of Germany. The new federal states are still waiting for a self-sustaining economic upswing. Per capita economic output for the working-age population in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic has only reached two thirds of the economic performance in the west. The new federal states never really had a chance because the economic order of the Federal Republic of Germany with its wage and social-insurance regulations was simply imposed on the former GDR, contrary to the advice given by economists. Instead of an economic miracle a second mezzogiorno in Europe arose, a limbering economic region that has not managed to connect with the better developed regions of the country. The only force behind a convergence of the per capita economic output is migration.
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