Events

Symposium Eigth International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium

For the 8th time the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) of the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in collaboration with the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study (HWK) are pleased to announce the
"International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium".

The symposium provides an opportunity for doctoral students of all disciplines (e.g. economics, demography, psychology, sociology, public health, geography) at any stage of their doctoral thesis, to present empirical research in progress - carried out with panel data (especially SOEP data) - and to discuss theoretical, conceptual and empirical issues with senior researchers. We encourage interested young scholars to submit abstracts.

If you would like to attend the symposium, please submit an abstract of your topic (350 words, in English) together with complete contact information before November 15, 2011. We will inform you whether your proposal has been accepted before December 15, 2011. The deadline for submission of the full paper (3.000 words) will be February 15, 2012.

All accepted papers will be made accessible to commentators and participants one month prior to the symposium. During the symposium each presenter will have about 20 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes comments by a senior researcher, and 10 minutes plenary discussion. The official language of the symposium will be English.

Catering as well as accommodation for non-locals will be provided. The conference fee is € 25.

More Information

• Call for Papers

Location

Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst/ Germany

Contact(s)
external

Anne-Luise Baumann
Tel.: +49 (0) 421-218 66354
Fax: +49 (0) 421-218 66353
Email: abaumann@bigsss-bremen.de

Maike Schulz
Tel.: +49 (0) 421-218 66417
Fax: +49 (0) 421-218 66353
Email: mschulz@bigsss-bremen.de

BIGSSS
PO Box 33 04 40
28334 Bremen

Workshop SOEPcampus@DIW Berlin 2012
Workshop zur Einführung in die Nutzung von SOEP-Daten

This workshop will be held in German only.

Please refer to the German site for more information.

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Christine Kurka

Tel.: +49 30 89789 283

Seminar Cluster Seminar Public Finances and Living Conditions
The Dynamics of Earnings in Germany: Evidence from Social Security Records

We examine patterns of earnings volatility for male employees who are subject to statutory social security contributions in West Germany over the period 1986 - 2005. For this purpose, we analyse individual records covering highly reliable earnings biographies provided by the German Social Security Administration. We decompose earnings into permanent and transitory components and estimate parameters of the underlying variance-covariance structure of the earnings components model. This provides insights into the mechanics of earnings dynamics of the German labour market. We find evidence for increasing overall volatility which is predominantly driven by the permanent earnings component and therefore indicates increasing earnings inequality.

Speaker

• Holger Lüthen, DIW Berlin

Time

12:30-13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Daniel Kemptner

Tel.: +49 30 89789 517

Seminar Cluster Seminar Public Finances and Living Conditions
When can we trust population thresholds in regression discontinuity designs

A recent literature uses variation just around legislative population thresholds to identify causal effects of institutional changes. We review the use of regression discontinuity designs using such thresholds. Our concern is threefold: (1) simultaneous exogenous (co-)treatment, (2) simultaneous endogenous choices and (3) manipulation and precise control over population measures. Revisiting the study by Egger and Koethenbuerger (2010), who analyse the relationship between council size and government spending, we present new evidence that these concerns matter for causal analysis. Our results suggest that empirical designs using population thresholds should be used with utmost care and confidence in the precise institutional setting.

Speaker

• Ronny Freier, Ph.D., DIW Berlin
• Florian Ade

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Daniel Kemptner

Tel.: +49 30 89789 517

Seminar Cluster-Seminar Öffentliche Finanzen und Lebenslagen
Estimating Heterogeneous Returns to Education in Germany via Conditional Second Moments

In this paper I explore the relationship between education and log wages using an identification approach based on conditional second moments. Drawing upon data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) I show that seemingly conflicting IV studies can be reconciled accounting for their LATE interpretation. I confirm existing empirical evidence by finding heterogeneous returns to education for graduates from different school tracks. The wage premium of one additional year of education is 3% for graduates from the basic school track. For graduates from a higher school track the return is around 9%. Various robustness checks support my results.

Speaker

• Nils Saniter, DIW Berlin

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Daniel Kemptner

Tel.: +49 30 89789 517

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Parenthood, maternal labour market return, and gender inequality in housework: A comparison of different parental leave contexts

Pia Schober (University of Cambridge)

This paper investigates the effect of the timing and extent of mothers' labour market return after a birth on couples' division of housework in Britain and West-Germany. This improves our understanding of how parenthood gives rise to a trend towards a more traditional division of housework in couples. By comparing Britain and West-Germany with their different parental leave policies and observing several policy reforms in each country over time, this study provides new evidence how contextual variations in parental leave policies may impact on the division of housework in couples.

Methodologically, this research extends the literature by applying multilevel multiprocess models to reduce the risk of unobserved heterogeneity biasing estimates of interrelated decisions after repeated life-course events. I estimate simultaneously the timing and extent of mothers' labour market return, the likelihood of having another child, and the time women and men in couples allocate to housework in the years following a first or second birth. The empirical analysis is based on data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2008) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (1985-2009).

The results suggest that returning to the labour market full-time work is more effective than short leave durations in reducing the trend towards a more traditional division of housework in couples. Unobserved characteristics, such as work and family orientations, account for most of the association of housework time with the length of mothers' employment interruption and significantly weaken the association with women's full-time labour market return, especially in Britain. Parental leave policy reforms in both countries are associated with the division of housework only through their impact on the extent and timing of women's return to work. In line with theory, I find some evidence of a stronger association of women's quick and full-time labour market return with lower housework time for women in Britain than in West-Germany.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar Cluster-Seminar Öffentliche Finanzen und Lebenslagen
Stop Smoking, Your Paycheck Will Thank You! Wage Effects from Smoking Cessation

Silke Anger (DIW Berlin / SOEP) 

A growing body of literature has investigated the wage penalty attached to smoking. Little research, in contrast, has been done on the wage effects of smoking cessation. Using survey panel data from Germany, we study the relative earnings of smokers and former smokers over an extended period of time. We control for selection into smoking by imposing smoking initiation as the common initial condition and exclusively focusing on ever smokers, i.e. smokers and former smokers. Although we do not find evidence for an average wage premium of smoking cessation, our estimates point to heterogeneous causal effects. Individuals who did not smoke very long or who quit many years ago do appear to benefit in their earnings from quitting smoking. The prospect of a higher paycheck for short-time smokers and long-term quitters provides an additional incentive to smokers to quit smoking, an argument health authorities may want to utilize in public smoking cessation campaigns.

Speaker

• Dr. Silke Anger, DIW Berlin

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Daniel Kemptner

Tel.: +49 30 89789 517

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Does job loss make you smoke and gain weight?

Jan Marcus (DIW Berlin / SOEP) 

This paper estimates the effect of involuntary job loss on smoking behavior and body weight. For this purpose, I apply a regression-adjusted semiparametric difference-in-difference matching strategy. This strategy is robust against selection on observables and against selection on unobservables with time invariant effects. I find smoker and nonsmoker reacting to job loss with changing health behaviors. Former nonsmoker are more likely to start smoking, while smoker tend to increase body weight but do not intensify smoking. These findings are robust over various matching specifications and different choices of the conditioning variables. Further analyses indicate treatment effect heterogeneity, with particular strong effects for young individuals, migrants and the low educated.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Workshop 5th International Research Workshop – “Methods for Ph.D.”

For the fifth time Ph.D. students in the field of Social Sciences and Economics have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and experience in research on empirical data, including SOEP. The workshop language will be English and/or German.
Interested parties from all countries are invited. The workshop is especially for those who need training in the process of choosing a topic, grounding the research idea in theory, as well as in gathering and analyzing data and presenting results in scientific contexts.

More Information

• Program Flyer
• Event Homepage

Workshop SOEP/CNEF Data Users Workshop 2011

The purpose of the workshop is to introduce and familiarize new users with the file structure and potential of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the Cross-National Equivalent Files (CNEF).

More Information

• Event Homepage

Location

Cornell University Ithaca, NY USA

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Marco Giesselmann

Tel.: +49 30 89789 503

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The dynamics of single motherhood and work life histories of women in Britain and West Germany

Hannah Zagel (University of Edinburgh) 

The labour market (in)activity of women in single motherhood situations is a prominent issue across European countries. In order to understand women's employment patterns it has been suggested to focus on timing in the life course rather than on women's categorisation as either workers or mothers (e.g. Lewis 2006). This paper argues that, additionally, the temporal and institutional embeddedness of single motherhood has to be considered. Drawing on theories of stratification in the life course, a conceptual model is suggested, which is based on the temporal dimensions of timing and duration of single motherhood. In order to explore the relationships, individual work-family life sequences of women with single motherhood experience in Britain and West Germany are compared. Sequence analysis is applied to longitudinal survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey. Data from the time period between 1992 and 2009 are used. The theoretical model implies that, while the particular family situation still distinctly influences women's work lives, this interrelation cannot be understood without considering the temporal framework in which it unfolds. It is argued that the timing of single motherhood as well as its duration are associated with the opportunities for women to acquire resources that can be used in the labour market. Furthermore, the meaning of timing and duration for activity patterns appears to differ between Germany and Britain. Hence, in the search for policy solutions to address the needs of women in a single motherhood situation it may be instructive to regard the interplay between temporal and institutional factors.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Invited Lecture Labor and Love - Employment Effects on Divorce Risk in Eleven Countries

Introduction: Christian Schmitt
Moderation: Elke Holst

In this lecture, Lynn P. Cooke will discuss various aspects of her recent research on the instability in couple relationships in the post-war period. Some social scientists attribute this increasing likelihood of divorce and separation to the increase in partnered women's employment. Yet in post-industrial economies, institutional support for partnered women's employment varies considerably. In the harmonized analyses presented here, panel (East and West Germany, United Kingdom, USA), register (Finland, Norway, Sweden), and retrospective (Australia, Flanders, France, Italy, the Netherlands) data and discrete time event history analyses are used to compare the divorce risk associated with wives' and husbands' employment across country contexts. In countries that historically institutionalized a gendered division of labor, a wife's employment increases the risk of divorce, although effects now reach statistical significance only in Italy. In the United States, where market (in)equality dominates, wives' employment also significantly increases divorce risk despite its prevalence. Where institutions instead support greater gender equality in paid as well as unpaid work, couples with an employed wife are significantly less likely to divorce than couples where the wife remains out of the labor force. Thus institutional support for greater gender equality makes wives' employment a stabilizing force in modern couples.

Lynn Prince Cooke (DPhil, Nuffield College, Oxford University) is Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. From an interdisciplinary perspective and using a multimethod approach, her comparative research explores institutional effects on the division of labor in societies, and the subsequent impact of these divisions on life course outcomes. Her research has appeared in American Journal of Sociology, European Sociological Review, Journal of Social Policy, and Journal of Marriage and Family. She serves on the editorial boards of the first two journals and co-authored the JMF decade review article on "Families in International Perspective." Her monograph, Gender-Class Equality in Political Economies, was released 2011. During July 15-31, 2011. Lynn Prince Cooke will be staying at the DIW Berlin, Dept. Germany Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and the Cross-Departmental Research Group Gender Studies at DIW Berlin as a guest researcher. Her research visit is supported by the DAAD Senior Academic visiting fellowship.

If you are interested to participate please respond by 15, 2011 to Christiane Nitsche: cnitsche@diw.de

Keynote Speaker

• Lynn Prince Cooke, Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK

Time

16:00

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Christiane Nitsche

Tel.: +49 30 89789 671

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Statistical Matching of Administrative and Survey Data - An Application to Wealth Inequality Analysis

Anika Rasner & Markus M. Grabka (SOEP)
joint with Joachim R. Frick (SOEP & TU Berlin)

Using population representative survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and administrative pension records from the Statutory Pension Insurance, the authors compare four statistical matching and imputation techniques to complement survey information on net worth with social security wealth (SSW) information from the administrative records. The unique properties of the linked data allow for a straight control of the quality of matches under each technique. Based on various evaluation criteria, Mahalanobis distance matching performs best. Exploiting the advantages of the newly assembled data, the authors include SSW in a wealth inequality analysis. Despite its quantitative relevance, SSW has been thus far omitted from such analyses, because of the lack of adequate micro data. The inclusion of SSW doubles the level of net worth and decreases inequality by almost 25 percent. Moreover, the results reveal striking differences along occupational lines.
(Presentation in German)

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Trick or treat? – Maternal job loss and children's non-cognitive skills

Frauke Peter (SOEP)

Research on maternal employment decision and its effect on children's abilities have so far produced mixed results. This indicates that the mere association of maternal employment and child outcomes might be spurious and depending on childcare settings and other aspects of mothers' selection into employment, which in turn might also affect child outcome measures. By propensity score matching we first define mother's probability of working and in a second step we analyze involuntary job loss and its influence on children's non-cognitive skills. Research on human capital formation distinguishes between cognitive and non-cognitive skills whereby noncognitive skills have received less attention in empirical work. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we estimate maternal job loss and its effect for preschool children aged five/six and for adolescents aged seventeen. Our analyses so far show that children whose mothers experience an exogenous job loss are more likely to have socioemotional problems and are less likely to believe in self-determination in life.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Ferdinand-Friedensburg-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Spite and cognitive skills in preschoolers

Elisabeth Bügelmayer (SOEP and FU Berlin)
C. Katharina Spieß (SOEP and FU Berlin)

Although spiteful preferences play a crucial role in the development of human large scale cooperation, there is little evidence on spiteful behavior and its determinants in children. We investigate the relationship between children’s cognitive skills and spiteful behavior in a sample of 214 preschoolers aged 5-6 and their mothers. Other-regarding behavior of both mothers and children is elicited by four simple allocation decisions. A key advantage of our study is that it is carried out in a household context. Therefore, we have extensive information about the child’s and mother’s cognitive and noncognitive skills, health and household characteristics. We find that higher cognitive skills are associated with more spiteful behavior in children. This relationship is even more pronounced among boys and hence possibly reflecting differences in competitiveness. These results shed light on the determinants of the development of other-regarding preferences in humans.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Low-paid Jobs - Stepping Stone or Dead End?

Alexander Plum (DIWecon)
Andreas Knabe (FU Berlin)

We examine whether low-paid jobs have an effect on the occupational advancement probability of unemployed persons to obtain better-paid jobs in the future (stepping-stone effect). We make use of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and apply a dynamic random-effects multinomial logit model. Our results suggest that low-wage jobs can act as stepping-stones to better-paid work. The improvement of the chance to obtain a high-wage job by accepting low-paid work is particularly large for less-skilled persons and for individuals with longer unemployment experiences. Low-paid work is less beneficial if the job is also associated with a low social status.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Innovative Work Practices, Working Conditions and Their Impact on Employee Well-being: Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Annika Nielsen (University of Basel)

During the last decades substantial changes in the labor market have had a tremendous impact on the working arrangements of employees. Not only have non-standard working arrangements such as temporary work and part-time jobs gained of importance but the working conditions themselves have undergone major transformations. As a consequence of the decline of manufacturing jobs and the growth of service oriented office work accompanied by employee involvement in decision making the work-related stressors shifted from physical and environmental strains to rather psychological ones. Although employee involvement is often referred to as a way to not only improve organizational performance but also to make employees' lives easier it can be noticed that these changes in the working conditions can also be a burden for affected employees.
The paper examines the effect of innovative work practices on employee health empirically using the waves of 1995 and 2001 of the German socio-economic panel (SOEP). Hereby, several different aspects of workplace innovations such as decision making authority, self dependent work organization, and diversified tasks are taken into account. In order to take objective as well as subjective measures of employee health into consideration sickness days, self-rated health, and satisfaction with health are used to capture the health effect. The research question is approached by applying different panel estimation techniques depending on the scale of the endogenous variable.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The in-work poverty risk and its entry transitions: differences in risk patterns between Germany and Great Britain

Leen Vandecasteele (University of Manchester & WZB Berlin)
Marco Gießelmann (University of Cologne)

Working poverty is on the increase and is acknowledged as a substantial welfare risk in most post-industrial societies (Andreß and Lohmann 2008). This paper investigates transitions to in-work poverty in Germany and Great Britain. Despite similar levels of overall in-work poverty, the life events associated with entry into in-work poverty are expected to differ according to the way this risk is managed and countered by the welfare system.

The theoretical part of the paper outlines how the in-work poverty risk is mediated by both labour market institutional framework as well as its welfare system. Consequently, empirical analysis on the basis of the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel will elaborate on the main patterns of in-work poverty and the triggers of in-work poverty entry. The main triggers for in-work poverty entry are sought in transitions from unemployment or inactivity, labour market transitions (into part-time, self-employed or temporary work as well as occupational downgrading) and changes in the household employment context.

The findings suggest that labour market entrants suffer disproportionately from the risk of entering in-work poverty in Germany. In Great Britain, employment exits of the partner is a stronger in-work poverty trigger and labour market transitions such as downward mobility and job change occur more frequently.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The effect of preschool attendance on secondary school track choice: Evidence from siblings

Martin Schlotter (ifo München)

In this paper we estimate the causal effect of preschool attendance on secondary school track choice after primary school using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). In line with previous literature, OLS and Probit models show significant positive associations between preschool attendance and the probability of attending the highest secondary school track. Yet, using a siblings approach and controlling for family fixed effects, returns to preschool become significantly smaller and close to zero. These results are robust to the inclusion of several sibling-specific determinants that might affect within-family differences in both preschool attendance and future track choice. The small effects of preschool might be the consequence of the low-intensity character of German preschools.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
All in the Family British Style: Does Family Smoking Cause British Youth to Smoke?

Laura Fumagalli (ISER, University of Essex)
joint work with Dean R. Lillard (Cornell University)

Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of death in every developed economy. In the U.S. smoking is estimated to be a significant cause of more than 400,000 premature deaths annually. Recent policy debates in most countries have tended to focus on how to prevent youth from starting to smoke. Embedded in these debates is a stylized fact that has yet to be established in a systematic waywhether smoking by older family member (parents and/or older siblings) causes youth to be more likely to take up smoking. Many policy experts assume the answer to this question is obvious. In this paper we use data from the British Household Panel Study to try to estimate whether the relationship is causal. We estimate both naive models that ignore the endogeneity of the smoking decisions of family members and models that control for those choices. The results suggest that failing to control for the endogenous choice of parents to smoke leads to incorrect inferences.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Internet users and non-users: comparing SOEP-data and a probability-based online panel

Bella Struminskaya (GESIS)

Online surveys are gaining in importance as a tool of data collection and as a platform for methodological experiments. However, certain challenges in regard to the quality of data need to be considered. Volunteer as well as probability-based online panels pose problems of non-coverage bias. Internet users differ from non-users in demographic characteristics: they are younger, better educated, non-immigrants, and have higher income compared to non-users.

In addition to the differences in demographics there are some "webographic" or attitudinal dissimilarities between the two groups: Internet-users tend to be more "socially content" - they are more trusting, have lots of people to draw on for support, and tend to think that others are generally fair (Lenhart et al. 2003). Thus, attitudes and values of Internet users may differ from those of non-users and data collected online would lack representativeness.
The goal of this explorative study is to evaluate the data quality of an online panel comparing SOEP-data and data from the offline-recruited probability-based online panel (GESIS). The analysis includes three steps.

First, using SOEP2008 data the differences between Internet users and non-users are studied.
The results replicate the finding of Lehnart et al. showing that German Internet users tend to be more socially content: after controlling for demographic differences Internet users significantly differ in their opinion that generally people are trustworthy and fair (though that doesn't hold true for readiness to help others).

Second, the quality of the online panel is assessed by a comparison of the panelists' answers to the SOEP-data (the recruitment for the online panel started in December 2010). In the third step it would then be possible to estimate the non-coverage bias of the online panel by contrasting data collected via the Internet to the SOEP-data of the general population (Internet users and non-users).  

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Two-stage indirect sampling of Kindergarten children in the National Educational Panel Study

Solange Koch (National Educational Panel Study )

In general sampling is based on a complete list. Complete lists of information concerning all units of the target population enable using sampling strategies and getting – depending on the quality of list and strategy – unbiased estimators for parameters of the target population. Without a sampling frame direct sampling is not possible. In this situation Lavallée (2007) suggests to use an indirect sampling approach. If there exists a population with an available sampling frame and this population is connected to the target population in a uniquely defined manner, indirect sampling allows provision of a random sample of the target population and the provision of weights permitting an unbiased estimation of population parameters. There are different kinds of indirect sampling approaches, depending on the kind of link between two populations U^A (the population with an available sampling frame) and U^B (the target population) and whether a multistage sampling strategy is incorporated. The connection between both populations is called link and can be described by an indicator variable: If there is a connection between a unit j of U^A and a unit k of U^B , then let l_j,ik =1 and l_j,ik =0 otherwise, with i describing the structure of clusters in population U^B , if there exists one .With this indicator variable and the knowledge of the selection probabilities of all units in U^A weights can be calculated.

In the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) six main cohorts are sampled by a multicohort sequence design to get a longitudinal analysis of education in Germany. In contrast to institutions of other cohorts there is no sampling frame available for Kindergartens. However, in Germany all children have to attend at elementary school. Therefore every child that had been in Kindergarten can be found in an elementary school and for elementary schools a sampling frame exists. Hence, in the NEPS we sample elementary schools s^A from the population U^A and ask them to list all Kindergartens k from which children from their first grade came from. Proportional to the number of trespassing children Kindergartens are sampled and Kindergarten children tested. With all children tested in Kindergarten the sampling procedure is a two-stage indirect sampling.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Jan Marcus

Tel.: +49 30 89789 308

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
On the Stability of Self-Reported Measures of Willingness to Take Risks

Ingo Isphording (Ruhr University Bochum Research School)

Newly available self-reported measures of willingness to take risks are increasingly used as empirical representations of individual risk preferences. Psychological literature states that risk preferences are formed during childhood and are stable thereafter.  Referencing this literature, stability of preferences is often used as an identication assumption in econometric work.  This study supports this assumption empirically. Using data from the German SOEP, a Hausman-Taylor approach is used to test the influence of childhood characteristics and exogenous lifetime events
on the level of self-reported willingness to take risks. Childhood characteristics turn out to be important determinants of willingness to take risks. Reported willingness to take risks decreases strongly with age, shocks like inheritance or emerging work disability have only a small, but signicant impact. This induces a potential source of endogeneity when willingness to take risks is used as explanatory variable in labor market research.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Symposium 7th International Young Scholar German SOEP Symposium

For the seventh time the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) of the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in collaboration with the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study (HWK) are pleased to announce the "International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium".

The symposium provides an opportunity for doctoral students of all disciplines (e.g. economics, demography, psychology, sociology) at any stage of their doctoral thesis to present empirical research in progress - carried out with SOEP or comparable panel data such as BHPS or SHP - and to discuss theoretical, conceptual and empirical issues with senior researchers. We encourage interested young scholars to submit abstracts.

More Information

• Call for papers - Deadline November 30, 2010

Location

Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst/ Germany

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Yvonne Lott

Tel.: +49 (0) 421-218  66355

Contact(s)
external

Ekaterina Uglanova
BIGSSS, Jacobs University
euglanov@bigsss-bremen.de

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Women's Career and Children - Human Capital and Earnings of Women in Korea and Germany. A Comparative Study

Mee-Kyung Jung (PhD student in Economics at the University of Frankfurt am Main)

According to the theory of Mincer and Polachek (1974), this study tests the career discontinuity of women, measured by their earnings, due to childbirth and childcare. Using the data taken from the ‘Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS)' and ‘German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP),' this study estimates the effects of children, education and other human capital effects on women's earnings by means of the regression discontinuity design and quantile regression methods. This study found earnings discontinuities in women aged between 30 and 40 in Germany and women aged between 40 and 55 in Korea. German women suffer from a more than 66% earnings drop due to children at their average tenure of 7 years. Unexpectedly, Korean women benefit from a 37% earnings gain attributable to children at their average tenure of 4 years.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Power within couples: What factors and transitions affect power?

Yvonne Lott (DIW Berlin and BIGSSS, Bremen)

Social inequality within the family is a crucial dimension of inequality in the wider society. Power imbalances between partners are linked with intra-family inequality. Surprisingly, power has mostly been neglected in German research so far. First goal of this study, therefore, is to get an idea about what factors are related to power. Rational choice theories as well as gender theory provide explanations for who has power and who doesn't. Furthermore, recent studies on power within intimate relationships mainly treat power as a static concept rather than a dynamic process. Since social relationships change during individuals’ lives, power also changes over partners’ life-courses. Given that transitions such as marriage, children and changes of employment status highly influence and shape the lives of individuals, these transitions might also have an impact on couples’ power. The second goal of this study is the analysis of the relationship between marriage, children and changes of employment status and power within couples. Power is measured on two dimensions: (1) control over financial resources and (2) financial decision-making. The analysis is based on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in 2004, 2005 and 2008.  Results show that individual income is strongest related to power, but that gender differences also exist with regard to the division of labor and household income. Furthermore, marriage and children increase cooperation in couples. Interestingly, changes to a lower employment status decrease especially female partners' power.. 

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Design and early findings from Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Heather Laurie (ISER, Essex, UK)

The talk describes the key design features and progress to date of Understanding Society, the new household panel survey of 40,000 households in the UK. Some early findings from the Innovation Panel of 1500 households which is used for methodological experimentation will be described along with some preliminary results from year 1 of wave 1 of the study.  

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The Causal Effect of Maternal Education on Child's Health and Schooling Outcomes: Evidence from Germany

Jan Marcus and Daniel Kemptner, both DIW Berlin Graduate Center

This is the first study investigating the causal effect of maternal education on child's health behavior and schooling outcomes in Germany. Our paper adds to the existing literature on intergenerational transfers in various ways. We apply a new instrumental variables approach which has not yet been used in the intergenerational context. Therefore, we draw on a rich German panel data set (SOEP) containing information about three generations. This allows instrumenting maternal education by the number of her siblings while conditioning on a comprehensive set of variables describing the grandparents' social status. Given the grandparents' social status, the number of siblings generates exogenous variation in the years of education by affecting household's resources which are available for human capital investments per child. Unlike studies investigating returns to education by exploiting policy changes, our methodology works also for cohorts unaffected by policy changes and for the limited sample sizes of common household panels. We estimate the causal effect on a wide range of child outcomes both at birth and at age 18/19. We present evidence for strong and significant effects on schooling outcomes for both sexes. And, we find substantial effects on health behavior for daughters at age 18/19, but not for sons. Our findings are robust over a variety of different specifications. We also discuss assortative mating and household income as possible channels of causality. Though, we do not find evidence that the effect of maternal education works through these channels.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar Childcare Services

Gerlinde Verbist and Michael Foerster (both OECD) will give a talk on:
"Money or Kindergarten - What Works Better? A Comparative Analysis of the Distributive Effects of Family Cash Transfers versus Services"

Time

11:00 to 13:00

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Christine Kurka

Tel.: +49 30 89789 283

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The Individual Level Dynamics of Bounded Partisanship

Thomas J. Scotto  (University of Essex )

Abstract
Over the past half century, scholars utilized a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to study the attachment or identification voters have with political parties. However, models on partisan (in)stability ignore its bounded character.
Making use of Mixed Latent Markov Models we measure change and stability of individual-level West German partisan identification captured over a 24 year period via the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSEOP). Results suggest that distinctive subpopulations exist, which follow different patterns of partisan stability. One party's loss is not necessarily another party's gain.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The Effect of Birthright Citizenship on Parental Integration Outcomes

Irma Clots-Figueras (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

Abstract
The integration of immigrants is constantly a subject of public debate, and measures to foster assimilation of newcomers are central in the political agenda of many countries. This paper focuses on the legal institution of citizenship and analyzes the consequences of the introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany. Exploiting the exogenous variation provided by the 1999 reform of the German nationality law, we study the effect of child legal status on the cultural integration of immigrant parents. We find evidence that foreign born parents are more likely to interact with the local community and use German language when their children are entitled to German citizenship at birth.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Das Schweizer Haushalt-Panel (SHP): Erfahrungen und neue Entwicklungen

Ursina Kuhn (SHP Schweizer Haushalt-Panel)

Abstract
Das Schweizer Haushalt-Panel (SHP) befragt seit 1999 ca. 5000 Haushalte. Die Präsentation behandet die Punkte Organisation (Institution und Mitarbeiter), Design, Incentives, Interview Mode, Attrition, Verfolgungsregeln, Stichproben, Datennutzer und Datenweitergabe. Für 2012 sind zudem verschiedene Aenderungen geplant (Gewichtung, neue Stichprobe, interview mode), die kurz vorgestellt werden. Die Präsentation soll vor allem als Input für Fragen, Diskussionen und Erfahrungsaustausch zwischen SOEP und SHP dienen.

Time

12:30 - 13:30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar Special SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Microm Workshop

12:00 - 13:00
Philipp Lersch (BIGSSS, Bremen) will give a talk.
13:00-14:00
Representatives from microm Germany presenting the new microm data.

Philipp Lersch
Passage or trap? Leaving deprived neighbourhoods in Germany 

Abstract

Exposure to potentially negative neighbourhood effects in deprived areas depends heavily on the ability to relocate from deprived neighbourhoods to better-off areas. Which households can leave deprived neighbourhoods? Do households relocate to other deprived neighbourhoods or to better-off areas? These questions have received attention foremost in the US and UK, but not to the same degree in Germany. To close this research gap, the analysis makes use of the SOEP and the MICROM data set for neighbourhoods for the years 2000-2008. First, a measure to identify deprived neighbourhoods is constructed. Second, binary logistic regression models for the occurrence of relocations in deprived and non-deprived neighbourhoods are estimated. These models are enhanced allowing for differentiated neighbourhood outcomes in a multinomial logistic regression setting. The analysis shows that ethnic minorities are not to the same degree trapped in deprived neighbourhoods as in the US or UK. Income plays an important role in shaping outcomes of relocations, while age and health are important for the question whether households in deprived neighbourhoods relocate at all.

Time

12:30 - 14:00

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
The bigger the children, the bigger the worries - Are preschoolers and young adolescents affected differently by changes in family structure with regard to non-cognitive skills?

Frauke Peter (DIW Berlin)
C. Katharina Spieß (DIW Berlin und FU Berlin)

Abstract
Family related factors that form a child's environment seem to be of particular importance, probably more important for the explanation of child outcomes than the environment of other care taking institutions, such as day care centers or schools. In light of this literature, this paper focuses on the impact of changes in family structure during children's early years and during adolescence on the development of socio-emotional behavior and non-cognitive skills. Our analysis concentrates on the early years as well as on young adolescence for two reasons: First, the early years are arguably most important for later outcomes. Second, by analyzing early childhood outcomes we focus only on short-term effects, but especially non-cognitive skills are skills that can be formed later on in life and thus, young adolescents might be influenced strongly. Our empirical analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). We use non-cognitive skills as our primary measure of child outcomes and compare them with more cognitive related outcomes. Family structure changes are defined by maternal partnership variations, as only biological mothers can be identified definitively in our data sets. A maternal partnership change can either be a different partner, a new partner, or no partner. Our analysis suggests that differences in family stability account for some of the gradient in social-behavioral difficulties for 5-6-year-olds. For young adolescents preliminary results suggest that multiple partner changes are negatively correlated with non-cognitive skills, e.g., they are less likely to be active or self- determined in life.

Time

13:00 - 14:00

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Workshop 4th International Research Workshop – “Methods for Ph.D.”

Empirical research is seeking through methodological processes to discover, hopefully, nontrivial facts and insights. Beside choosing a topic and grounding an idea in theory, empirical research consists of gathering and analysing data as well as presenting results in scientific contexts in order to contribute new issues to the body of acquired knowledge - not only to someone‘s own but also to that of others.

The workshop tackles these steps of your research project:

• Gathering data via (un)structured interviews and analysing standardized survey data,
• using the computer for qualitative data analysis and as a tool for statistics, and
• writing a report and giving presentations.

These steps will strengthen the cooperation in empirical research to boost and streamline ones project.

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Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Subsidized Employment and Happiness

Benjamin Crost (Berkeley University)

Abstract

 While a large body of evidence suggests that unemployment and self-reported happiness are negatively correlated, it is not clear whether this reflects a causal effect of unemployment on happiness and whether subsidized employment can increase the happiness of the unemployed. To close this gap, I estimate the causal effect of a type of subsidized employment projects - Germany's Arbeitsbeschaffungsmassnahmen - on self-reported happiness. Results from matching and fixed effects estimators suggest that subsidized employment has a large and statistically significant positive effect on the happiness of individuals who would otherwise have been unemployed. Detailed panel data on pre- and post-project happiness suggests that this effect can neither be explained by self-selection of happier individuals into employment nor by the higher incomes of the employed.

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Income inequality, relative income and health

Cristina Blanco (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Abstract

Given the lack of consensus in the literature regarding the effect of income inequality on health, this paper studies the relationship between both variables, focusing on the relative income hypotheses. Using data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we analyse the effect of relative deprivation on individual self-assessed health, when considering "upwards" and "downwards" income comparisons within the reference group. We also control for the existence of feedbacks effects between income and health in a dynamic qualitative response model.

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

30 June 2010 to 2 July 2010 GSOEP SOEP 2010

The 9th International German Socio-Economic Panel User Conference (SOEP2010) will be held in Berlin, June 30 to July 2nd, 2010, at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB). The conference provides researchers who use the SOEP with the opportunity to present and discuss their work with other researchers familiar with SOEP data. Researchers of all disciplines (e.g. economics, demographics, geography, political science, public health, psychology and sociology) who use the SOEP or the GSOEP part of the Cross-National Equivalent Files (CNEF) are invited to submit an abstract. We encourage in particular submission of papers using the longitudinal features of SOEP as well as papers on survey methodology and cross national comparative analysis.

More Information

• Event Homepage
• Call for Papers

Keynote Speaker

• Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln,
  Faculty of Economics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt (Main)

Location

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin Raum B002/3 Reichpietschufer 50 10785 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Christine Kurka

Tel.: +49 30 89789 283

GSOEP SOEPcampus@Universität Mannheim 2010

This year's SOEPcampus@Universität Mannheim Workshop "Längsschnittdatenanalyse mit dem Sozio-ökonomischen Panel (SOEP)" will take place from June 14-16 (workshop held in German).

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• Program Flyer
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Contact(s)
external

Prof. Dr. Marita Jacob

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Respondent-Driven Sampling

Elisabeth Liebau, DIW Berlin
Matthias Schonlau, Rand Corporation and DIW Berlin

Abstract
Respondent driven sampling (RDS) is a sampling technique typically employed for hard-to-reach populations (e.g. injecting drug users, men having sex with men, and sex workers).
Briefly, initial seed respondents recruit additional respondents from their network of friends. The recruiting process repeats iteratively, thereby forming long referral chains.
It is crucial to obtain estimates of respondents' network size (e.g. number of friends with the characteristic of interest). RDS shares some similarities with snowball sampling, but the theoretical foundation for inference using RDS samples is much stronger. We will give a brief overview over this technique, studies that have used RDS and some of the challenges they encountered.

The presentation will be in German. 

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Eleanor-Dulles-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Measuring Time Use in Surveys - A Novel Validation of Survey Questions through Experience Sampling

Bettina Sonnenberg, DIW Berlin
Michaela Riediger, MPI for Human Development
Cornelia Wruz, MPI for Human Development
Gert G. Wagner, DIW Berlin

 Abstract
According to the literature, it is still not clear to what extent stated time allocation in questionnaires reflects the actual behavior of people. Using experience sampling data, we analyze the congruence of stated time use and reported behavior elicited through a novel experience sampling method. Our comparisons indicate that rather long-lasting and outstanding activities like market work seem to be accurately measured by common survey questions. In contrast, for more short-term activities or those around which people do not tend to structure their time—such as errands—only small correlations can be revealed. We conclude that activities with a long duration can be measured in a satisfactory manner by short survey questions whereas it is an open methodological question if experience sampling method or survey questions deliver more reliable and valid measures for short-term activities.

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
A comparison of following rules and weighting approaches in household panel surveys

Matthias Schonlau, Rand Corporation
Martin Kroh, DIW Berlin

Abstract
The first wave of a household panel survey captures a cross section of the population at one point in time. However, target population and household composition change over time. Following rules are introduced to decide which household members are still surveyed after they leave the household. We compare following rules of several large household panels and show how different following rules would have affected sample size in the SOEP. Changing household compositions also raise questions about appropriate sampling weights. We compare various weighting approaches employed by large household panels to address this issue. We find that after 25 panel years most respondents still live in a household with a wave 1 respondent. Therefore, following rules have relatively little impact on sample size.

Time

12.30 - 1.30 p.m.

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

GSOEP SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Interviewer Personality and Survey Error: Interviewers' Conscientiousness as Predictor for Item- and Unit Nonresponse in a Panel Household Study

Michael Weinhardt, DIW Berlin

In household panel surveys, interviewers' first task is to secure respondents' cooperation, i.e. initial response and response over time. A second task is to collect and record precise information on the respondents. Previous studies have shown that the 'Big-Five' personality trait conscientiousness is significantly related to general indicators of job performance. In this paper we look at whether this holds for survey interviewers also. The data used to investigate this problem is unique in the sense that it did not have to rely on data provided by fieldwork agencies, but information on interviewers that was collected during a separate study. In December 2006, a survey of all current interviewers of the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) was conducted and 546 interviewers responded to a 10-page paper questionnaire. This included a short version of the Big Five Inventory, a scale to assess the 'Big Five' personality traits including conscientiousness. Also in 2006, a refreshment sample for the SOEP was drawn and respondents interviewed for the first time, giving the opportunity to study initial unit response. With this data, we examined the effects of interviewers' conscientiousness on initial response, household attrition and item nonresponse by linking survey data from the interviewers with household and individual level information on respondents. Using a multilevel regression framework, we find that interviewer conscientiousness is not related to initial response in 2006, but is significantly related to overall item nonresponse in 2006 and to household attrition in 2007. Results will be discussed in terms of their usefulness for the recruitment and training of interviewers, highlighting the importance of conscientiousness in an interviewer's approach to work.

Time

12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Agreeable Housewives? Women's Noncognitive Skills and Return to Employment after Childbirth

Eva M. Berger, DIW Berlin

Recent economic literature found that noncognitive skills play an important role in economic and social success like educational attainment and employment outcomes. In particular for employment probabilities, some studies even conclude that noncognitive skills have a larger impact than cognitive skills and that this pattern is especially pronounced for women. Building on this literature, this paper investigates how noncognitive traits affect the time until a mother returns to employment after childbirth. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), I refer to the concepts of Locus of Control and of the Big Five personality traits. I estimate a discrete survival model incorporating a discrete mixture distribution to summarize unobserved heterogeneity. The results indicate that women with a high score on agreeableness return to employment later. The effects of extraversion and belief in external control are both found to be inversely U-shaped. Individuals at both extremes of the traits return to employment later than individuals with moderate traits.

Time

12:30 - 1:30 pm

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Symposium Sixth International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium

For the sixth time the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) of the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in collaboration with the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study (HWK) are pleased to announce the "International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium".

The symposium provides an opportunity for doctoral students of all disciplines (e.g. economics, demography, psychology, sociology) at any stage of their doctoral thesis, to present empirical research in progress – carried out with panel data (especially SOEP data) – and to discuss theoretical, conceptual and empirical issues with senior researchers. We encourage interested young scholars to submit abstracts.

If you would like to attend the symposium, please submit an abstract of your topic (350 words, in English) together with complete contact information before November 30, 2009.  

More Information

• Call for Papers

Location

Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst/ Germany

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Yvonne Lott

Tel.: +49 (0) 421-218  66355

Contact(s)
external

Yvonne Lott
BIGSSS & DIW Berlin

Ekaterina Uglanova
BIGSSS, Jacobs University
Campus ring 1
28759 Bremen
Tel.: +49 (0) 421-200 3952
Fax: +49 (0) 421-200 3955
Email: euglanov@bigsss-bremen.de

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Dynamic Aspects of Income Justice

Peter Valet
Stefan Liebig, University of Bielefeld

Empirical research on distributive justice seeks to identify justice perceptions in a society which can be considered as patterns that legitimate inequalities. Therefore the analysis of distributive justice evaluations primarily focuses on the perceived justice of (labour) incomes.

So far empirical justice research using large scale survey data was restricted to a cross-sectional perspective. The recent wave of the GSOEP (2009) now provides the third query (after 2005 and 2007) concerning the justice evaluation of the own income. Hence it is now possible to investigate dynamic aspects of just incomes with a panel approach.

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Seminar SOEP Brown Bag Seminar
Preferences, Institutions, and Stereotypes - Determinants of the Gender Specific Occupational Channelling

Anne Busch, DIW Berlin 

Although women and men nowadays are similarly work-oriented and show a comparable human capital accumulation (e.g. concerning education), most women still work in typical "women's jobs" and most men in typical "men's jobs". While there exists much research about consequences of working in gender typical or atypical occupations, only few studies analyze systematically the determinants of the gender specific occupational channelling on the individual level.

With her presentation, Anne Busch tries to fill this gap: The main goal is to analyze empirically the determinants of the gender specific occupational "choices", and to broaden the theoretical view from more classical pre-occupational, preference-oriented theories to institutional and social-psychological as well as organizational approaches.

Time

12.30 - 13.30

Location

DIW Berlin (Gustav-Schmoller-Raum) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Eva M. Berger

Tel.: +49 30 89789 228

Graduate Center Masterclasses Berliner Netzwerk Arbeitsmarkt (BeNA) Lecture Series 2010
Topics in Regression Analysis

Jointly organized with BENA lecture series (3 lectures of 90 mins).

The lectures will be largely based on the recently published book "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion" by Joshua Angrist and Jörn-Steffen Pischke.

Topics covered in the lectures include:
(1) Basics in regression analysis: The role of control variables and measurement error
(2) Grouped data and two sample IV methods
(3) Weak instrumental variables

The lecture series is targeted at grad students, Ph. D. students, and postdocs, but all interested researchers
are welcome! Attendance is free of charge.

Affiliates of the Berlin Doctoral Program in Economics and Management Science (BDPEMS) can also register on the BDPEMS webpage.

The Masterclasses are open to all affiliates of DIW Berlin and BDPEMS.

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Speaker

• Prof. Jörn-Steffen Pischke
  London School of Economics (LSE)

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Thomas Siedler

Tel.: +49 30 89789 464

Georg Weizsäcker

Tel.: +49 30 89789 247

Conference 3rd Conference of the Leibniz Research Network "Non-Cognitive Skills: Acquisition and Economic Consequences"

Local Organizer: Jürgen Schupp, C. Katharina Spiess, Christine Kurka (Sozio-oekonomisches Panel)

More Information

• Program Flyer
• Event Homepage

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Christine Kurka

Tel.: +49 30 89789 283

Workshop International Research Workshop "Methods for Ph.D."

Empirical research is seeking through methodological processes to discover, hopefully, nontrivial facts and insights. Beside choosing a topic and grounding an idea in theory, empirical research consists of gathering and analysing data as well as presenting results in scientific contexts in order to contribute new issues to the body of acquired knowledge - not only to someone‘s own but also to that of others.

More Information

• Event Homepage

Location

Akademie Sankelmark near Flensburg

Workshop SOEP-CNEF Workshop

Workshop for International Users of SOEP and CNEF Data

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Location

Cornell University Ithaca, NY USA

Symposium 5th International Young Scholar German Socio-Economic Panel Symposium

Symposium of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at DIW Berlin in collaboration with the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study (HWK).

Closing date for submissions is December 31, 2008.

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Location

Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst/ Germany

Event Economics of Education
With Prof. Steve Machin (University College London)

The 2008 BeNA Lecture Series will be held by Steve Machin. Steve Machin is Professor of Economics at University College London, Director of the Centre for the Economics of Education, and Research Director at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is also one of the Editors of The Economic Journal.

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• Program

Location

DIW Berlin (Schumpeter Saal) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Conference SOEP 2008
8th International Socio-Economic Panel User Conference

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Location

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin Raum B002/3 Reichpietschufer 50 10785 Berlin

Workshop Berliner Netzwerk Arbeitsmarkt (BeNA)
Theorie und Anwendungsmöglichkeiten moderner ökonometrischer Matchingmethoden / "Short Course on Econometric Evaluations with Matching Methods"

Ziel dieses Kurses ist es die Teilnehmer mit der Theorie und den Anwendungsmöglichkeiten moderner ökonometrischer Matchingmethoden vertraut zu machen. Es wird 1,5 Tage an Vorlesungen zu verschiedenen Aspekten ökonmetrischer Matchingschätzungen geben, die mit praktischen Beispielen veranschaulicht werden. Prof. Michael Lechner von der Universität St. Gallen wird diese vierte Vortragsreihe halten.

Das Berliner Netzwerk Arbeitsmarktforschung (BeNA) wurde im Jahr 2004 als Zusammenschluss junger, in Berlin beschäftigter ArbeitsmarktforscherInnen gegründet und versteht sich als Forum für die Diskussion und Entwicklung von Projekten auf dem Feld der Arbeitsmarktforschung. Zurzeit sind das Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin), die Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) und das Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB) aktiv am Netzwerk beteiligt. Weitere Kooperationen mit der Freien Universität Berlin und der Technischen Universität Berlin sind geplant. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit des Netzwerkes steht das Berliner Arbeitsmarktseminar, das allen Forschern offen steht, die einem der kooperierenden Institute angehören.

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Keynote Speaker

• Prof. Michael Lechner, Universität St. Gallen

Location

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin Raum B002/3 Reichpietschufer 50 10785 Berlin

Contact(s)
at DIW Berlin

Johannes Ziemendorff

Tel.: +49 30 89789 354

Berlin Lunchtime Meeting Geschlechtergerechtigkeit und Arbeitsbelastung
Überraschende Evidenz von Zeitverwendungserhebungen

Die Veranstaltung findet in deutscher Sprache statt.
Referent: Prof. Michael C. Burda, Ph.D. (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Kommentar: Tristana Moore, BBC-Korrespondentin
Moderator: Dr. Hilmar Schneider, IZA, Bonn

Bitte beachten – neuer Ort!

Zeitverwendungsdaten aus 27 Ländern lassen Interessantes über die Geschlechterverteilung der Gesamtarbeitszeit – die Summe aus Markt- und unentgeltlicher Haushaltsarbeit – schließen. In reichen, nicht-katholischen Ländern auf vier Kontinenten leisten Frauen und Männer im Mittelwert die gleiche Arbeitszeit – gemessen an Minuten am Tag. Dieser Fakt – der unter Soziologen bekannt aber unerklärt ist – ist frappierend, vor allem im Hinblick auf die große Varianz der individuell geleisteten Gesamtarbeitszeit. Ferner hängt die Geschlechterungleichheit der Arbeitsverteilung im internationalen Vergleich negativ mit der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung zusammen – in den ärmsten Ländern arbeiten Frauen erheblich mehr als Männer. Detaillierte Daten aus Deutschland und den USA belegen, dass die Gleichheit der Arbeitsbelastung nicht am Ehe- bzw. Familienstand liegt, denn diese Faktoren erklären nur einen geringen Anteil der beträchtlichen Variation der Arbeitszeit innerhalb von Haushalten. Eine Theorie der sozialen Normen, deren Kraft mit steigendem Wohlstand zunimmt, erscheint eher geeignet, diese überraschende Regelmäßigkeit zu erklären.

Michael C. Burda ist Professor für Volkswirtschaftslehre und leitet seit 1993 als Direktor das Instituts für Wirtschaftstheorie II an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen in der Makroökonomie und der Arbeitsmarktforschung.

Hilmar Schneider ist seit Juli 2001 Direktor für Arbeitsmarktpolitik am IZA, Bonn. Darüber hinaus ist er seit 2002 Research Affiliate des DIW Berlin. 2006 wurde er zum Mitglied im Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten ernannt.

Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Teilnahme und bitten Sie, Ihre verbindliche Anmeldung bis spätestens 31. Oktober 2007 via E-Mail an events@diw.de zu senden.

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Time

12:00 - 14:00

Location

DIW Berlin (Schumpeter Saal) DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin

Workshop SOEP@CAMPUS2007
Analysemöglichkeiten mit dem Sozio-oekonomischen Panel

Viele sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungsfragen lassen sich nur mit Längsschnittdaten untersuchen. Da der Umgang mit entsprechenden Datensätzen und Analyseverfahren anspruchsvoll, in der universitären Methodenausbildung aber nicht überall fest verankert ist, findet vom 8.10.-12.10.07 an der Universität Duisburg-Essen ein Workshop statt. Die Veranstaltung richtet sich an Studierende und Nachwuchswissenschaftler aus den Fächern Soziologie, Ökonomie, Politikwissenschaft und Psychologie.

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Workshop International Research Workshop "Methods for Ph.D."

Empirical research is seeking through methododical processes to discover, hopefully, non-trivial facts and insights. Beside choosing a topic and grounding a research idea in theory research is gathering, analysing, and presentations in scientific contexts to add results to the body of knowledge not only of one‘s own but also to that of others.

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Location

Akademie Sankelmark near Flensburg

Conference ECINEQ 2007: 2nd meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality

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Workshop SOEP Workshop

Keynote Speaker

• Patricia Alvarez-Plata, DIW Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Alfred Steinherr, DIW Berlin

Time

10:00 - 17:00

Location

DIW Berlin im Quartier 110 Mohrenstraße 58 10117 Berlin