Publikationen mit SOEP-Daten: SOEPlit

Precariousness among solo self-employed workers: a German-Dutch comparison

In this article we compare solo self-employment in Germany and the Netherlands. We identify parallels and differences in the structure of solo self-employment and examine to what extent self-employment is related to a precarious situation in terms of earnings and social security. The results show that solo self-employed workers are relatively vulnerable in terms of income and disability insurance in ...

Money and Happiness: Income, Wealth and Subjective Well-Being

We examine the complex relationship between money and happiness. We find that both permanent income and wealth are better predictors of life satisfaction than current income and wealth. They matter not only in absolute terms but also in comparative terms. However, their relative impacts differ. The first exerts a comparison effect—the higher the permanent income of the reference group, the lower life ...

Delegation with a Reciprocal Agent

We consider a model in which a principal may delegate the choice of a project to a better informed agent. The preferences of the agent and the principal about which project should be undertaken may be discordant. Moreover, the agent benefits from being granted more discretion in the project choice and may be motivated by reciprocity. We find that the relationship between the agent’s reciprocity and ...

Prosociality and Risk Preferences in the Financial Sector

Using large-scale data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this paper finds that financial professionals have a lower prosociality and riskier behavior than a control group. I interpret these findings using the person-organization fit theory, and thus, the compatibility between the employee’s personality and the prevailing culture in their organization. The financial sector attracts riskier individuals, ...

Reallocation Effects of the Minimum Wage

We investigate the wage, employment, and reallocation effects of the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage in Germany that affected 15% of all employees. Based on identification designs that exploit variation in exposure across individuals and local areas, we find that the minimum wage raised wages but did not lower employment. It also led to the reallocation of low-wage workers from smaller to ...

Calculating Gross Hourly Wages – the (Structure of) Earnings Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel in Comparison

The statutory minimum wage in Germany was set as an hourly wage. Thus, valid information on gross hourly wages must be calculated from monthly wages and weekly working hours. This paper compares the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and the (Structure of) Earnings Survey (SES/ES). The sampling and collection of data on employees in the household survey GSOEP, and on jobs in the administrative surveys ...

The effect of informal caregiving on social capital investments

Social capital is a resource derived from a person's social network and is important for various outcomes. Social capital declines over time and requires investments to avoid further declines or to increase the stock. However, certain life events can negatively affect social capital. This paper analyzes how informal caregiving, defined as unpaid assistance to persons who cannot perform the usual ...

Wirtschaftliche Leistungsfähigkeit, sozialer Zusammenhalt, ökologische Nachhaltigkeit - Drei Ziele - ein Weg

The Relationship Between Homeownership and Life Satisfaction in Germany

The article investigates the relationship between homeownership and life satisfaction in Germany, using German Socio-Economic Panel Study data from 1992 to 2009. The data not only allow controlling for a wide range of variables, but also tackle various measurement problems of previous studies. Ordered logit models support a positive relationship between homeownership and life satisfaction. In addition, ...

Parental investment and the intergenerational transmission of economic preferences and attitudes

We study empirically whether there is scope for parents to shape the economic preferences and attitudes of their children through purposeful investments. We exploit information on the risk and trust attitudes of parents and their children, as well as rich information about parental efforts in the upbringing of their children from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our results show that parents ...