June 10, 2014 | News | Rostock´s Eleven

German reunification - a large natural social experiment

© photocase: Soundboy, Da_Judge / photocase.com

From a scientific point of view, the construction of the Wall is a large natural experiment: A single population divided into two, lives for four decades under very different conditions. At Rostock’s Eleven, to take place June 12, 2014,  MPIDR-researcher Tobias Vogt will explain which factors can be studied in such a population.

From a purely scientific point of view, the Wall can be considered a gift. In a way, it created the context for a large natural experiment, with an experimental set-up that could not have been be better: A single population physically divided into two, living for four decades under very different conditions, then reunited. Such setting provides ample opportunities to study factors such as the effect of comprehensive child care provision on the (re-)employment of mothers; the standard of knowledge gained by young people, pending on whether they went through one school system or the other; or the development of life expectancy in one state and the other.

MPIDR-researcher Tobias Vogt has looked at the latter aspect when working on his PhD. Results show that, had the GDR persisted, its population would have still seen gains in survival but not as rapidly so as in the FRG. Had there been no reunification, East German women today would have seen their life expectancy reduced by almost four years on average, East German men even by almost six years. Regional differences in the levels of health care provision, pollution, and of pension incomes would have possibly [all] played their part in the disparate survival gains, says researcher Tobias Vogt. He now wants to filter out the major contributing factors in further research. 

About Rostock's Eleven

Rostock's Eleven is a joint initiative of all research institutions in Rostock: eleven young scientists from eleven research institutes in Rostock present the results of their research to young scientific journalists from all over Germany. At the close of the event, the best presentation will receive a prize.

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The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.