The Treuhandanstalt: An Empirical Stocktaking 30 Years after German Reunification

Even 30 years after reunification, the Treuhandanstalt’s management and privatization of enterprises owned by the former GDR remains controversial. This article provides the first detailed empirical survey of the privatization process and its economic consequences for the companies concerned. The authors show that although the Treuhandanstalt was more likely to privatize more productive companies, it also sold them more often to West German investors.