Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20221 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 986
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Since the inequality of earnings in East Germany has approached West German levels in the late 1990s, the standard Roy model predicts that a positive selection bias of East-West migrants should disappear. Using a switching regression model and data from the IABemployment sample, we find however that employed East-West migrants remain positively self-selected with respect to unobserved abilities. This result is consistent with the predictions of our extended Roy model which considers moving costs that are negatively correlated with labour market abilities of individuals. Moreover, we find that wage differentials as well as differences in employment opportunities are the central forces which drive East-West migration after unification.
Subjects: 
migration
self-selection
East Germany
JEL: 
P23
J61
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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