Search

SOEP-Core – 2022: Biography (A-R+IAB-SOEP-M1-M8b)

SOEP-Core – 2022: The Deceased Person (A-R+IAB-SOEP-M1-M8b)

SOEP-Core – 2022: Catch-up Individual (A-R+IAB-SOEP-M1-M8b)

Comparing External and Internal Instruments for Vector Autoregressions

In conventional proxy VAR analysis, the shocks of interest are identified by external instruments. This is typically accomplished by considering the covariance of the instruments and the reduced-form residuals. Alternatively, the instruments may be internalized by augmenting the VAR process by the instruments or proxies. These alternative identification methods are compared and it is shown that the ...

Navigating Uncertainty: Do Communicable Diseases Influence Risk Preferences?

This paper explores the effect of COVID-19 infection rates on individuals’ risk preferences using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Findings show that the spread of COVID-19 does not significantly alter risk preferences. While we do find that individuals with prior cardiovascular diseases reduce their preference for risk-taking, this zero effect is remarkably stable across subgroups of the population. ...

Is Russian Gas Still Needed in the European Union? Model-Based Analysis of Long-Term Scenarios

Aligned with the war in Ukraine, Russia has significantly withheld natural gas exports to Europe since 2021. As there are no EU-wide sanctions on imports of Russian natural gas, the Ukraine transit as well as imports via Turkey and LNG have remained active during 2022–24. However, the Russian-Ukrainian transit agreement expires at the end of 2024 and discussions about new sanctions on natural gas as ...

Breaking the Silence: The Role of Women's Shelters and Legal Infrastructure in IPV Reporting

Does increased legal infrastructure lead to higher intimate partner violence (IPV) reporting and empower victims to leave abusive relationships? Structural barriers often prevent IPV victims from seeking help, with two-thirds of female victims in Europe neither reporting incidents to the police nor accessing support services. I study the rollout of women’s shelters and the introduction of the 2002...

100 Years DIW Berlin

In 2025, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) will be 100 years old. The Centennial Celebration will take place on May 27, 2025 from 4 p.m. in the Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus in Berlin Mitte. Together with former and current employees, fellows, and friends, we will look back on 100 years of DIW Berlin’s contributions to economic research. Participation is only possible by...

Let's Switch to the Cloud: Cloud Usage and Its Effect on Labor Productivity

The advent of cloud computing promises to improve the way firms use IT solutions. Firms are expected to replace large and inflexible fixed-cost investments in IT with more targeted, variable spending on cloud solutions. This is also expected to increase firms' productivity by allowing them to quickly adapt their IT infrastructure to their specific needs. We assess this claim using firm-level data provided ...

Income Distribution: Signs of a Trend Reversal In the Poverty Risk; Single Parents Less Frequently at Risk of Poverty

Despite high inflation, the real gross hourly wages of employees grew by around 15 percent from 1995 to 2022. In particular, the lowest wage decile caught back up to all other deciles following a sharp drop in real wages. At the same time, the low-wage sector has shrunk by nearly five percentage points since 2007, and by even more in the east of Germany (14 percent). In 2022, 18.5 percent of employees ...