30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research
The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migrat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Federal Institute for Population Research
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Comparative Population Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/457 |
| _version_ | 1811303858382569472 |
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| author | Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge Nico Stawarz Nikola Sander |
| author_facet | Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge Nico Stawarz Nikola Sander |
| author_sort | Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:55:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4f803a72d9a64ba48800a6c5187251c9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1869-8980 1869-8999 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:55:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Federal Institute for Population Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Comparative Population Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-4f803a72d9a64ba48800a6c5187251c92022-12-22T02:55:25ZengFederal Institute for Population ResearchComparative Population Studies1869-89801869-89992022-04-014710.12765/CPoS-2022-0845730 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future ResearchMatthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge0Nico Stawarz1Nikola Sander2Radboud Universität NimwegenFederal Institute for Population ResearchFederal Institute for Population ResearchThe reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.https://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/457internal migrationreturn migrationliterature revieweconomic disparitiespolitical transformationgerman democratic republicmacroeconomic factorsindividual-level determinants |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge Nico Stawarz Nikola Sander 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research Comparative Population Studies internal migration return migration literature review economic disparities political transformation german democratic republic macroeconomic factors individual-level determinants |
| title | 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research |
| title_full | 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research |
| title_fullStr | 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research |
| title_full_unstemmed | 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research |
| title_short | 30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research |
| title_sort | 30 years of east west migration in germany a synthesis of the literature and potential directions for future research |
| topic | internal migration return migration literature review economic disparities political transformation german democratic republic macroeconomic factors individual-level determinants |
| url | https://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/457 |
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