Publikationen mit SOEP-Daten: SOEPlit

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The effect of social comparison on debt taking: Experimental evidence

A number of studies show a link between social comparison and high levels of household debt. However, the exact underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. In this paper, we disentangle two mechanisms in a lab experiment to study the effects of social image concerns and peer information on debt-financed consumption choices. We find that having to announce their consumption decisions publicly ...

Buffering effects of volunteering on the link between negative life events and adults' life satisfaction: Disentangling within- and between-person effects

This study explores how volunteering buffers the association between negative life events and life satisfaction using data from two longitudinal surveys: HILDA (30,693 participants, one-year intervals) and SOEP (60,701 participants, two-year intervals). We applied multiple-group random intercept cross-lagged panel models to examine how volunteering moderates the effects between dependent negative life ...

Mode choice inertia and shock: Three months of almost fare-free public transport in Germany

This study analyses travellers’ behavioural responses to two temporal measures implemented by the German government: the reduction in public transport prices, making it almost fare-free, and a decrease in fuel taxes to the minimum level permitted by European law. Based on a panel dataset of GPS-tracked trips collected before and during the price intervention from a representative sample of 276 individuals, ...

Socialism, identity and the well-being of unemployed women

Unemployment influences people’s life satisfaction beyond negative income shocks. A large body of literature investigates these non-pecuniary costs of unemployment and stresses the importance of social norms, especially for men. We add to this literature by showing that norm non-compliance may equally inflate the non-pecuniary loss of well-being for unemployed women. Using German panel data, we use ...

Redefining the personality profiles of early-stage solopreneurs: A cross-sector study

This study explores the diversity in the personality profiles of solopreneurs in high- and non-high-tech sectors during the initial business phase, driven by the need to determine whether sector specific personality traits are crucial for entrepreneurial success. Utilizing the Big Five personality traits (BFPT), we analyze data on 4,470 solopreneurs from the IAB/ZEW Start-up Panel (2018 and 2019 waves). ...

The Green Transition and Political Polarization Along Occupational Lines

Green transition policies set long-term targets to reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants, posing a threat to workers in polluting occupations and communities reliant on them. Can far-right parties attract voters who anticipate losing from the green transition? We explore this in Germany, which has ambitious green policies and a large workforce in polluting occupations. The far-right AfD started ...

LGBT* People in Later Life: The State of Research and Opportunities for Empirical Quantitative Analysis with Secondary Data in Germany

Increasing population ageing and demographic change are accompanied by greater diversity among later age cohorts. This phenomenon is evident with regard to the specific aspect of sexual and gender diversity. In recent decades, an increasing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBT*) people who have lived through periods with different levels of social acceptance ...

Early childhood development among voluntary and forced migrants: evidence from Germany

Background While the number of descendants of voluntary and forced migrants rises, disparities in early childhood development (ECD) between these groups remain underexplored. Methods Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2004-2021; N = 1826), which includes a representative sample of refugees in Germany, we compared developmental outcomes across five domains (communication, daily skills, ...

Paid parental leave and long-term outcomes of children—Quasi-experimental evidence from former East Germany

This study investigates the impact of an increase in paid parental leave from six to twelve months on children’s long-term outcomes. Our setting—former East Germany—is characterized by high maternal labor market participation and a universal supply of standardized childcare. It thus mitigates identification issues such as selection into the labor market and provides a clear counterfactual to maternal ...