SOEP Research Infrastructure Research Projects

Basic Income Pilot Project

The current debate on unconditional basic income in Germany is often dominated by personal opinions and clichés and is seldom based on robust scientific knowledge, as there have been no generalizable scientific studies on this subject in the German context up to now. Studies in other countries such as Finland provide initial insights, but many of these are out of date or focus on specific...

Bremen Initiative to Foster Early Childhood Development (BRISE)

The Bremen Initiative to Foster Early Childhood Development (BRISE) is a longitudinal study that systematically investigates the effects of early childhood intervention. BRISE follows approximately 1,000 disadvantaged families in Bremen. The program links selected measures beginning at a prenatal stage and continuing until the first year of primary school. The measures are integrated in everyday...

Die intergenerationale Reproduktion von Vermögensungleichheit und deren sozio-demographischen Bedingungen in Deutschland (InterVerm / DFG)

Die Vermögensungleichheit hat in vielen OECD-Ländern in den letzten Jahrzehnten zugenommen. Intergenerationale Prozesse der Vermögensreproduktion, die bewirken, dass erwachsene Kinder ähnliche Vermögenspositionen wie ihre Eltern zu einem ähnlichen Alter besetzen, sind besonders zentral, um die Entstehung von Ungleichheiten zu verstehen, weil u.a. Vermögen direkt über Generationen hinweg...

Drivers of residential energy use for heating and cooling and thermal retrofit decisions

Energy consumption for household heating is capturing increasing attention. In the short-term, gas – and thus heat–saving has become a core policy objective in the current energy crisis. Only if households save sufficient gas will it be possible to avoid curtailment of industrial energy gas demand. Gas savings will also reduce scarcity on the markets, and thus is an important element to mitigate...

Dynamics of Mental Health of Migrants (DMHM)

Theoretical models of acculturative stress predict the psychological impacts of adaptation to a new culture and the important role these impacts play in the development of migrants’ mental health. This development is shaped by both stressors and resilience factors within the context of the host country’s migration regime. Personality characteristics and family relations are two crucial factors in...

GDR-Past and Mental Health: Risk and Protection Factors (DDR-PSYCH)

After more than 25 years since reunification, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR; often known in English as East Germany; in German DDR) and its socio-political system have remained a point of reference for the analysis of societal, social, and individual processes in Germany. There is a lack of knowledge about the on-going impact of the East German past on the German general population....

Groups put at Particular Risk by COVID 19 (GaPRisk)

The Covid-19 pandemic poses numerous societal challenges. We will examine how it affects distinct social and at-risk groups in Germany, what it implies for societal inequalities, and what role welfare state measures play. First, we will describe the situation of the population before and during the pandemic in the health and the socio-economic domain. In each domain, we will study a set of core...

IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany

The Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), and the Research Centre on Migration, Integration, and Asylum of the Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) are working together on a project to survey people seeking protection in Germany from political persecution and violent conflicts. The influx...

IAB-SOEP Migration Sample

In cooperation with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has carried out the largest expansion in the number of respondents with a migration background in its 30-year history. Between May and November 2013, around 2,700 households were surveyed, each containing at least one person who had either immigrated to Germany since 1994 or whose parents...

Life-course Income Dynamics (LINDY)

Concerns about inequality and questions of social justice and cohesion have re-entered the public arena and animate debate, provoked by the recent rapid increases in cross-sectional inequality. While much has been learnt from the literature on inequality, Deaton (2015) has outlined in his Nobel lecture several imperatives that are key to understanding inequalities and formulating welfare-enhancing...

Linked Open Research Data for Social Science Pilot Study (LORDpilot)

The re-use of research data is an integral part of research practice in the social and economic sciences. To find relevant data, researchers need adequate search facilities. However, a comprehensive, thematic search for research data that is not limited to individual survey programs is difficult. Because individual survey programs use their own terminology to describe their data and the...

Longitudinal Aspects of the Interaction between Health and Integration of Refugees in Germany (LARGE)

The project “Longitudinal Aspects of the Interaction between Health and Integration of Refugees in Germany” (LARGE) is developing a set of indicators of refugees’ physical and mental health based on data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees. Researchers in the project are also studying what role these indicators play over time in refugees’ integration into German society. LARGE is a...

Longitudinal Study of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany (SUARE)

The war of aggression Russia has been waging on Ukraine since February 24, 2022, has triggered the largest movement of refugees in Europe since World War II. Between the start of the war and January 2023, more than one million people have fled Ukraine to Germany. The refugee migration from Ukraine differs from previous waves of refugee migration with regard to three institutional framework...

Perceptions of Inequalities and Justice in Europe (PIJE)

Over recent decades, European societies have witnessed increasing social inequalities. Faced with more flexible labor markets, open trade, and technological as well as ongoing demographic changes, European welfare models have been unable to effectively address this issue. Recent developments such as the yellow vest movement in France and the rise of populist parties across Europe have renewed...

Personality and social relationship dynamics: Short- and medium-term processes in daily life (DIPS)

In two large-scale studies, researchers are investigating short- and medium-term dynamics within and between social relationships. These are the first studies of their kind to take not only quantitative but also qualitative behavioral relationship characteristics into account. Using multivariate analysis methods, they examine the influence of personality characteristics (e.g., extraversion,...

Rationality and Competition: The Economic Performance of Individuals and Firms

Record linkage between Socio-Economic Panel and administrative pension data — a combined dataset for life course research (SOEP-RV)

This project is being carried out in cooperation with the Research Data Centre of the German Pension Insurance (FDZ-RV). It aims at linking survey data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) with individual administrative data from the German Pension Insurance. The administrative data contain monthly employment and pension histories on individuals in dependent employment starting at the age of 14.

Second Nationwide Antibody Study “Living in Germany – Corona Monitoring” (RKI-SOEP-2)

How many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or are protected from severe COVID-19 disease by vaccination? How widespread are SARS-CoV-2 antibodies? What percentage of the population is willing to get vaccinated? How is the pandemic affecting specific population groups such as refugees? As part of RKI-SOEP-2, participants in the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study were asked to take a dry...

Simulation of educational trajectories, taking latent decision-making processes into account - in the framework of the research group “Multi-sectoral Regional Microsimulation Model” (MikroSim)

This project will create a methodological framework for embedding a transition model with free (unknown) parameters in a dynamic, small-scale microsimulation. A transition model of this kind will also enable latent and/or only partially observed processes to be represented in a microsimulation. The key element for embedding a transition model with free parameters is a metamodel (or statistical...

Social Cohesion Panel of the Research Institute for Social Cohesion (SCP)

The Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin and the University of Bremen are working together to develop a household panel study on the topic of social cohesion. The survey is being conducted by the infas Institute for Applied Social Science under the name “Zusammenleben in Deutschland,” or “Living Together in Germany.” The University of Bremen is taking part in the project as a participant in...