Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Do Acquaintances and Friends Make Us Learn? Social Capital and Lifelong Learning in Germany

This paper examines the relationship between social capital and adult learning. We test this association empirically using measures of various types of social capital and adult learning based on the German Socioeconomic Panel. We use predetermined measures of social capital to exclude social skills or friends encountered during the adult education class. Fixed effects for latent underlying factors ...

Employment chances of immigrants and their children in Germany: does sense of personal control matter?

Labour market integration is a social process suggesting that personality traits are relevant. This paper explores whether immigrants with a higher belief in their ability to control outcomes tend to be more likely to be employed. This trait is known in psychology as the locus of control (LOC). I employ a model framework that allows LOC to depend on a set of observable determining variables. Results ...

Comparing Wealth - Data Quality of the HFCS

The Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) provides information about house-hold wealth (real and financial assets as well as liabilities) from 15 Euro-countries around the year 2010 (first wave). The survey will be the central dataset in this topic in the future. However, several aspects point to potential methodological constraints regarding cross-country comparability. Therefore the aim ...

Stability of Gosta Esping-Andersen's "The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism"

Sport participation of the elderly—the role of gender, age, and social class

The article provides an overview of the results of cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets concerning sport participation of the elderly in Germany with a focus on correlations of sport participation with gender, age, and social class. A tabular overview lists the most central studies with their study design and publications from 2000 onwards. Findings regarding the motivations for sport participation ...

The Impact of Xenophobic Violence on the Integration of Immigrants

Integration of immigrants is a two-way process involving immigrants and the host country society. An underexplored question is how events of xenophobic violence in the host country affect the integration of immigrants. For this purpose, I exploit a unique series of anti-immigrant attacks in the early 1990s in West Germany. Using a difference-in-differences matching strategy, I find that macro exposure ...

On Rich Cities and Boring Places

This paper investigates the effect of city size on income inequality in Germany after reunification. Using the Gini index, income inequality is computed. No correlation between income inequality and city size can be found, but dividing Germany in East and West Germany gives further insight into the dependence. It can be seen that a positive connection between city size and income inequality exists ...

Group Loyalty and Support for the Social Security System: Evidence from Germany

Do Better Educated Immigrants Choose a Higher Reference Income? Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Good-bye Lenin On Our Bank Account? Within-Household Allocation in East and West German Couples

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 1999–2004, I estimate a collective discrete choice model of female labour supply with non-participation and non-linear taxation. I use the model to infer the share of household net income that women in couples receive for their individual consumption. In particular, I study whether the within-household allocation is more egalitarian for ...