Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

20 Years of German Unification - Evidence of Income Convergence and Heterogeneity

We analyse the convergence and heterogeneity of living standards between East and West Germany since unification. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we compare total individual income of permanent adult residents, including retirees and the unemployed, of East and West Germany over the fifteen years for which data are available. Using a fixed effects vector decomposition method, ...

Can International Migration Solve the Problems of European Labour Markets? (Chapter 5)

Language Skills and Employment Rate of Refugees in Germany Improving with Time

Asylum seekers migrating to Germany remains a hotly debated topic. The second wave of a longitudinal survey of refugees shows that their integration has progressed significantly, even though some refugees came to Germany in poor health and with little formal education. Compared to the previous year, refugees’ German skills have improved, as have their participation rates in the workforce, education, ...

Differences in welfare take-up between immigrants and natives

Research on welfare participation often shows significant differences between immigrants and natives that are often attributed to immigrants' higher risk of welfare dependence. We study whether immigrants in Germany also differ from their German counterparts in their take-up behavior conditional on being eligible for welfare benefits. The empirical approach intends (i) to determine eligibility ...

Benefit Take-Up and Labor Supply Incentives of Interdependent Means-Tested Benefit Programs for Low-Income Households

Using a microsimulation model based on representative panel data, we analyze the outcomes of three major means-tested interdependent benefit programs that are available for low-income households in Germany with respect to benefit take-up and labor supply incentives. The results show a distinct overlap between the programs and high rates of non-take-up, indicating that the effectiveness of the programs ...

Does a Smoking Ban Reduce Smoking? Evidence from Germany

In 2007 and 2008 the 16 German federal states introduced public smoking bans. The prime objective of the smoking bans was to reduce passive smoking. However, a welcomed side-effect of the smoking bans might have been to reduce active smoking. In this paper we investigate whether such a side-effect occurred. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we investigate with fixed-effects ...

Happiness functions with preference interdependence and heterogeneity: the case of altruism within the family

This study investigates the prevalence and extent of altruism by examining the relationship between parents’ and their adult children’s subjective well-being in a data set extracted from the German Socio-Economic Panel. To segregate the share of parents with altruistic preferences from those who are selfish, we estimate a finite mixture regression model. We control for various sources of potential ...

Naming and War in Modern Germany

This paper analyzes naming behavior in Germany in the context of rapid social change. It begins with an overview of general developments in naming in Germany over the last one hundred years, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), which supplies us with almost 45,000 datasets. The paper focuses on the periods of World War II and the Cold War since we conclude that general developments ...

Integrating Immigrants' Children into Labour Markets. The Impact of Individual Social Capital (Master thesis)

Differential employment prospects among atypical employees: Effects of type of contract or worker preference?

The paper analyses transitions between atypical and regular employment, focusing on the effects of different types of atypical employment on the transition probability to full-time and long-term employment. Theoretically, differences by type of contract are to be expected due to the specific functions of types of employment contracts for employers. Fixed-term contracts are often used for prolonged ...