Let me sum up the good and the bad: The good: * You were guaranteed a job (it was actually compulsory to have a job) * There were no beggars on the street

Let me sum up the good and the bad: The good: * You were guaranteed a job (it was actually compulsory to have a job) * There were no beggars on the streets and people felt safe about their basic needs * All education, starting from kindergarten up to academic was completely free * All healthcare was completely free The bad and the ugly: * The choice of products to buy was very limited * You weren't able to freely express any negative feelings about the system (in some extremely serious case you could even be killed for that, although it was relatively rare) * You couldn't travel and work where you wanted. Trying to explain the difference in sexual satisfaction between East and West Germany based on social security seems tempting, but it's would be hard to prove (if the study was conducted well). I guess we'll never know for sure.