Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Does Commuting Matter to Subjective Well-Being?

How and why commuting contributes to our well-being is of considerable importance for transportation policy and planning. This paper analyses the relation between commuting and subjective well-being by considering several cognitive (e.g., satisfaction with family life, leisure, income, work, health) and affective (e.g., happiness, anger, worry, sadness) components of subjective well-being. Fixed-effects ...

Long road to ruin? Essays examining the effects of commuting on health and well-being

Flexibility and spatial mobility of labour are central characteristics of modern societies which contribute not only to higher overall economic growth but also to a reduction of interregional employment disparities. For these reasons, there is the political will in many countries to expand labour market areas, resulting especially in an overall increase in commuting. The picture of the various, unintended ...

“Is your commute really making you fat?”: The causal effect of commuting distance on height-adjusted weight

This paper explores the causal relationship between commuting distance and height-adjusted weight (BMI) in Germany, using micro-level data for the period 2004 – 2012. In contrast to previous papers, we find no evidence that longer commutes are associated with a higher BMI. The non-existence of a relationship between BMI and commuting distance prevails when physical activity and eating habits are adjusted ...

Commuting and Sickness Absence

We investigate the causal effect of commuting on sickness absence from work using German panel data. To address reverse causation, we use changes in commuting distance for employees who stay with the same employer and who have the same residence during the period of observation. In contrast to previous papers, we do not observe that commuting distances are associated with higher sickness absence, in ...

Can Compensating Wage Differentials Explain Male-Female Wage Differences in the FRG?

Use of health services according to income before and after elimination of copayment in Germany and restriction of universal health coverage in Spain

In Germany copayment for medical consultation was eliminated in 2013, and in Spain universal health coverage was partly restricted in 2012. This study shows the relationship between income and the use of health services before and after these measures in each country.

Who Has It and Who Gets It?: The Role of Gender, Resources, and Transitions for Power within Couples

Social inequality within intimate relationships is a central dimension of social inequalities in the wider society and is highly related to power imbalances. In couples, partners who have power are able to manipulate the distribution of gains and costs in the relationship. Furthermore, power manifests itself within partners interaction and, thus, is a dynamic process. Therefore, the power allocation ...

When My Money Becomes Our Money: Changes in Couples’ Money Management

Conservative welfare state policies as in Germany often presume that money is a common resource within couples and, therefore, pooled. Research, however, indicates that money is increasingly managed separately or partly separately. This trend is either explained by the diversification of forms of relationships or interpreted as a general decline of the joint pooling of money. Contributing to this debate, ...

Is maternal labor market re-entry after childbirth facilitated by mothers’ and partners’ flextime?

How do national-level work–life balance policies shape the role of flextime in maternal labor market re-entry after childbirth? It is well known that such policies influence the adoption, provision, and support of flexible work arrangements by organizations, but whether they shape the relevance of these arrangements for workers has been neglected in past research. This article analyzes whether mothers’ ...

Gender Discrepancies in the Outcomes of Schedule Control on Overtime Hours and Income in Germany

Schedule control can have both positive—e.g., increased income—and negative outcomes—e.g., increased overtime. Here our core interest is whether there are gender discrepancies in these outcomes. Given the different ways in which schedule control can be used, and perceived to be used by men and women, their outcomes are also expected to be different. This is examined using the German Socio-Economic ...