An anatomy of East German unhappiness: The role of circumstances and mentality, 1990-2018

We decompose the satisfaction gap between East and West Germany into objective circumstances and subjective mentality, the latter capturing the way circumstances are being evaluated. Using the methodology proposed by Senik (2014) we find circumstances and mentality to contribute in the proportion 55: 45%. The mentality-related gap is driven by birth cohorts socialized under different political regimes - communist and liberal capitalist - and disappears for the youngest cohort group. Results point towards churchliness and satisfaction with democracy being important explanations of the mentality gap. Within-person changes of the mentality gap occurred as aspirations or worries concerning politico-economic shocks were adjusted. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study decomposes the satisfaction gap between East and West Germany into objective circumstances and subjective mentality, with the latter being influenced by different political regimes and disappearing in the youngest cohort group. Results suggest that churchliness and satisfaction with democracy are important explanations of the mentality gap.