SOEP Research: Inequality and Mobility

Real Income Rose Significantly between 1991 and 2014 on Average – First Indication of Return to Increased Income Inequality

The real disposable income of private households in Germany, accounting for inflation, rose by 12 percent between 1991 and 2014. This is what the present study based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has shown. However, the trends varied greatly depending on income group. While the middle income segment rose by more than eight percent, the highest income segment increased by up to 26 percent. ...

The Gap between the Rich and the Poor Keeps Growing: Seven Questions for Markus M. Grabka

Real Income Rose Significantly between 1991 and 2014 on Average – First Indication of Return to Increased Income Inequality

The real disposable income of private households in Germany, accounting for inflation, rose by 12 percent between 1991 and 2014. This is what the present study based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has shown. However, the trends varied greatly depending on income group. While the middle income segment rose by more than eight percent, the highest income segment increased by up to 26 percent. ...

"The Gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing": seven questions for Markus M. Grabka

Mr. Grabka, the German economy has flourished in recent years. To what extent is its economic growth reflected in the growth of income? On average across the total population disposable household income after inflation has risen, but depending on their income level, various segments of the population have contributed to this increase differently. [...]

Cognitive Skills, Non-cognitive Skills, and Family Background: Evidence from Sibling Correlations

This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates a strong relationship between family background and skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive ...

Terminal Decline in Well-Being Differs between Residents in East Germany and West Germany

Lifespan research has long been interested in how contexts shape individual development. Using the separation and later reunification of Germany as a kind of natural experiment we examine whether and how living and dying in the former East or West German context has differentially shaped late-life development of well-being. We apply multi-level growth models to annual reports of life satisfaction collected ...

An Integrated Approach for Top-Corrected Ginis

Household survey data provide a rich information set on income, household context and demographic variables, but tend to under report incomes at the very top of the distribution. Administrative data like tax records offer more precise information on top incomes, but at the expense of household context details and incomes of non-filers at the bottom of the distribution. We combine the benefits of the ...

A Comparison of Intergenerational Mobility Curves in Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the US

We examine intergenerational mobility differences between Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the US. Using ranks, we find that the US is substantially less intergenerationally mobile than the three European countries and that the most mobile region of the US is less mobile than the least mobile regions of Norway and Sweden. Using a linear estimator of income share mobility, we find that the four countries ...

Distributive and Poverty-Reducing Effects of In-Kind Housing Benefits in Europe: With a Case Study for Germany

While cash housing benefits are generally included in household disposable income, the effect of social housing is not accounted for. This may provide a misleading picture of the impact of overall housing policies on inequality and poverty, as countries use different policies to help households meet their housing expenses. In this article, we present the first comprehensive study of the impact of in-kind ...

Einkommensunterschiede in der Mortalität in Deutschland – Ein empirischer Erklärungsversuch

In dieser Studie gehen wir der Frage nach, welche Faktoren die einkommensbedingten Unterschiede in der Mortalität erklären können. Auf der Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) werden ereignisanalytische Modelle der Mortalität ab dem Alter 65 geschätzt, die Auskunft über den Mediatoreffekt von acht Faktorenbündeln geben. Als Mediatoren zwischen Einkommen zum Alter 65 und Mortalität werden Bildung, ...