Implementation of Funding for the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)— A personal recollection

Abstract

The SOEP success story was not conceivable at its inception. SOEP’s institutionalization is therefore a lesson demonstrating that it is not always possible to say—as is so often required of research proposals today—how a project will develop before it has even begun, and what significance it may one day have. Or, even worse, to show “how a research project will pay off.”