SOEPpapers

A New Targeting - A New Take-Up? Non-take-up of Social Assistance in Germany after Social Policy Reforms

We present first estimates of rates of non-take-up for social assistance in Germany after the implementation of major social policy reforms in 2005. The analysis is based on a microsimulation model, which includes a detailed description of the German social assistance programme. Our findings suggest a moderate decrease in non-takeup compared to estimates before the reform. In order to identify the ...

Changes in the Gender Wage Gap in Germany during a Period of Rising Wage Inequality 1999-2006: Was it Discrimination in the Returns to Human Capital?

In this article I analyze the changes in the gender wage gap in the western region, eastern region and in reunified Germany during the period 1999 - 2006. I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and implement two alternative decomposition methodologies; the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition, and a methodology that totally differences the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) decomposition, found ...

Profit Sharing and Reciprocity: Theory and Survey Evidence

The 1/n problem potentially limits the effectiveness of profit sharing in motivating workers. While the economic literature suggests that reciprocity can mitigate this problem, it remains silent on the optimal degree of reciprocity. We present a representative model demonstrating that reciprocity may increase productive effort but may also increase unproductive effort such as socializing on the job. ...

A Socio-Economic Analysis of Youth Disconnectedness

Disconnectedness among youth can have several dimensions. From a socio-economic viewpoint, failure in school, unemployment and the lack of an intimate relationship are among the most important ones. In our samples from SOEP youth questionnaires, approximately 13% of young people in Germany between the ages of 17 and 19 are disconnected. The percentage of disconnected youths has been on the rise since ...

Dealing with Incomplete Household Panel Data in Inequality Research

Population surveys around the world face the problem of declining cooperation and participation rates of respondents. Not only can item nonresponse and unit nonresponse impair important outcome measures for inequality research such as total household disposable income; there is also a further case of missingness confronting household panel surveys that potentially biases results. The approach commonly ...

One Last Puff? Public Smoking Bans and Smoking Behavior

This paper investigates the short-term effects of public smoking bans on individual smoking behavior. In 2007 and 2008, state-level smoking bans were gradually introduced in all of Germany's sixteen federal states. We exploit this variation in the timing of state bans to identify the effect that smoke-free policies had on individuals' smoking propensity and smoking intensity. Using rich longitudinal ...

Individual and Neighborhood Determinants of Survey Nonresponse: An Analysis Based on a New Subsample of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), Microgeographic Characteristics and Survey-Based Interviewer Characteristics

This study examines the phenomenon of nonresponse in the first wave of a refresher sample (subsample H) of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Our first step is to link additional (commercial) microgeographic data on the immediate neighborhoods of the households visited by interviewers. These additional data (paradata) provide valuable information on respondents and nonrespondents, including ...

Where People Live and Die Makes a Difference: Individual and Geographic Disparities in Well-Being Progression at the End of Life

Lifespan psychological research has long been interested in the contextual embeddedness of individual development. To examine if and how regional factors relate to between-person disparities in the progression of late-life well-being, we applied three-level growth curve models to 24-year longitudinal data from deceased participants of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 3,427; age at death: ...

Late-Life Decline in Well-Being across Adulthood in Germany, the UK, and the US: Something Is Seriously Wrong at the End of Life

Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. However, evidence is emerging that late in life well-being declines considerably. Using long-term longitudinal data of deceased participants in national samples from Germany, the UK, and the US, we examine how long this period lasts. In all three nations and across the adult age range, well-being was relatively ...

Are Recessions Good for Educational Attainment?

In this study, we examine how economic performance during the child-specific primary school phase, during which teachers make recommendations regarding secondary school level, affects the educational level achieved ultimately by these children. Using data for Germany, we find that an economic downturn, coupled with increased unemployment, affects children's education attainment negatively. In terms ...

Eine exemplarische Anwendung der regionalisierten Preisniveau-Daten des BBSR auf die Einkommensverteilung für die Jahre 2005 bis 2008

Die 1990 eingeführte Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion der BRD mit der DDR und schließlich die deutsche Wiedervereinigung war und ist für jede Statistik, die versucht die Lebensverhältnisse in Ost und West zu vergleichen, eine große Herausforderung. In seinem einleitenden Teil dokumentiert dieser Aufsatz die unmittelbar nach der Wiedervereinigung und in den 90er Jahren vom DIW Berlin vorgenommenen Kaufkraftparitäten-Berechnungen ...

Exploring the Linkage of Spatial Indicators from Remote Sensing Data with Survey Data: The Case of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and 3D City Models

This paper demonstrates the spatial evaluation of survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study using geo-coordinates and spatially relevant indicators from remote sensing data. By geocoding the addresses of survey households with block-level geographic precision (while preventing their identification by name and guaranteeingtheir complete anonymity), data on SOEP respondents can now ...

Perceived Job Insecurity and Well-Being Revisited: Towards Conceptual Clarity

This paper analyzes the impact of job insecurity perceptions on individual well-being. In contrast to previous studies, we explicitly take into account perceptions about both the likelihood and the potential costs of job loss and demonstrate that most contributions to the literature suffer from simultaneity bias. When accounting for simultaneity, we find the true unbiased effect of perceived job insecurity ...

Offshoring, Tasks, and the Skill-Wage Pattern

The paper investigates the relationship between offshoring, wages, and the ease with which individuals' tasks can be offshored. Our analysis relates to recent theoretical contributions arguing that there is only a loose relationship between the suitability of a task for offshoring and the associated skill level. Accordingly, wage effects of offshoring can be very heterogeneous within skill groups. ...

Does Size Matter? The Impact of Changes in Household Structure on Income Distribution in Germany

In Germany, two observations can be made over the past 20 years: First, income inequality has been constantly increasing while, second, the average household size has been declining dramatically. The analysis of income distribution relies on equivalence-weighted incomes which take into account household size. Therefore, there is an obvious link between these two developments. The aim of the paper is ...

Mehr Angst vor Arbeitsplatzverlust seit Hartz? Langfristige Entwicklung der Beschäftigungsunsicherheit in Deutschland

Auf Basis der Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) geht der Beitrag der Frage nach, wie sich die subjektiv empfundene Angst vor dem Verlust des Arbeitsplatzes seit Mitteder 1980er Jahre in Deutschland verändert hat. Dabei zeigt sich, dass sich vor allem zwischen 2001 und 2004 der Anteil der Beschäftigten deutlich erhöht hat, die sich große Sorgen um den Fortbestand ihres Arbeitsverhältnisses ...

September 11th and the Earnings of Muslims in Germany: The Moderating Role of Education and Firm Size

While available evidence suggests that the events of September 11th negatively influenced the relative earnings of employees with Arab background in the US, it is not clear that they had similar effects in other countries. Our study for Germany provides evidence that the events also affected the relative earnings of Muslims outside the US. However, the results show that there was no uniform effect ...

Ethnic Concentration and Language Fluency of Immigrants in Germany

Studies that investigate the effect of the regional ethnic composition on immigrant outcomes have been complicated by the self-selection of ethnic minorities into specific neighbourhoods. We analyse the impact of own-ethnic concentration on the language proficiency of immigrants by exploiting the fact that the initial placement of guest-workers after WWII was determined by labour demanding firms and ...

Public Pensions, Changing Employment Patterns, and the Impact of Pension Reforms across Birth Cohorts: A Microsimulation Analysis for Germany

We analyze the impact of changing employment patterns and pension reforms on the future level of public pensions across birth cohorts in Germany. The analysis is based on a rich dataset that combines household survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and process-produced microdata from the German pension insurance. A microsimulation model is developed which accounts for cohort ...

Sind Indikatoren zur Lebensqualität und zur Lebenszufriedenheit als politische Zielgrößen sinnvoll?