Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The impact of psychological traits on performance in sequential tournaments: Evidence from a tennis field experiment

In order to analyze if heterogeneity in psychological traits affects individual performance in sequential tournaments, we conducted a tennis field experiment. In the experiment, we also varied the payment schemes (individual, team, competition) to control for moderating effects of different incentives. Team incentives, risk taking, and self-esteem reduced performance whereas a preference towards competition ...

Panel estimates of the wage penalty for maternal leave

The focus of this paper is the size of the wage penalty due to maternal leave incurred by working mothers in Germany. Existing estimates suggest large penalties with little rebound over time. We apply recent panel data methods designed to address problems of sample selectivity, unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity to German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data. Heckman's classic treatment of ...

Bericht der Bundesregierung zur Lebensqualität in Deutschland

Der Bericht der Bundesregierung zur Lebensqualität beschreibt in zwölf Dimensionen und mit 46 Indikatoren die Lebensqualität in Deutschland. Für die Auswahl der Dimensionen und Indikatoren waren die Ergebnisse eines halbjährigen konsultativen Bürgerdialogs maßgeblich. Zudem hat die Bundesregierung Erkenntnisse der Forschung zur Lebensqualität sowie nationale und internationale Referenzprojekte wie ...

Part-Time Work in EU Countries: Labour Market Mobility, Entry and Exit

How Care Work Employment Shapes Earnings in a Cross-National Perspective

The Motherhood Penalty in Cross-National Perspective: The Importance of Work-Family Policies and Cultural Attitudes

Mothers’ employment and earnings partly depend on social policies and cultural norms supporting work-family balance. While policies regarding parental leave and childcare may assist families in combining work and care, are these policies related to the economic penalties for motherhood? Using original social policy data with micro data from the Luxembourg Income Study, we examine relationships between ...

Are Relative-Income Effects Constant across the Well-being Distribution?

This paper challenges the common assumption made by economists to date that income comparisons are similarly important in different segments of the subjective well-being (SWB) distribution. The results, based on the 2000-2007 waves of the German SOEP and on a Generalized Ordered Probit for panel data, show that relative income, as measured either by the mean income of the reference group or the individual ...

Risk attitude and wage growth: replicating Shaw (1996)

We replicate Shaw (J Labor Econ 14(4):626–653, 1996) who found that individual wage growth is higher for individuals with greater preference for risk taking. Expanding her dataset with more American observations and data for Germany, Spain, and Italy, we find evidence that risk attitudes are relevant but support is mixed at best for the original specifications.

Income comparisons and non-cognitive skills

People gain utility from occupying a higher ranked position in the income distribution of the reference group. This paper investigates whether these gains depend on an individual’s set of non-cognitive skills. Using the 2000-2008 waves of the German Socioeconomic Panel dataset (SOEP), a subjective question on Life Satisfaction, and three different sets of non-cognitive skills indicators, we find significant ...

Life Satisfaction, Income Comparisons and Individual Traits

People gain utility from occupying a higher ranked position in the income distribution of the reference group. This paper investigates whether these gains depend on an individual's set of personality and affective traits. Using the 2000 to 2013 waves of the German Socio‐economic Panel dataset (SOEP), a subjective question on Life Satisfaction, and three different measures of personal and affective ...