Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Unequal Welfare States - distributive consequences of population ageing in six European countries

The German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) after more than 15 years - Overview

The German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) is an interdisciplinary longitudinal study of private households for the representative analysis and interpretation of social and economic behavior in the Federal Republic of Germany. As a longitudinal survey, the GSOEP primarily aims to collect information on stability and changes over time at the micro level of individuals, households and families. Because ...

Beyond Conventional Wage Discrimination Analysis: Assessing Comprehensive Wage Distributions of Males and Females using Structured Additive Distributional Regression

In this paper, we propose a new comprehensive framework for analysing wage discrimination. This framework assesses wage discrimination on the grounds of conditional wage distributions (rather than just conditional means), regards the whole population (rather than just those in work) and employs a more general definition of work based on Margaret Reid's "third party criterion" (rather ...

A Semiparametric Analysis of Conditional Income Distributions

We explore the application of structured additive distributional regression for the analysis of conditional income distributions in Germany following the reunification using the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP) database. This methodology allows us to explore both between and within income inequality at a highly disaggregated level. Using a bootstrapped version of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, we find ...

Life Satisfaction and Job-Seeking Behavior of the Unemployed: The Effect of Individual Differences in Justice Sensitivity

This study examines the effect of justice sensitivity on the life satisfaction and job-seeking behavior of unemployed individuals and considers the likelihood of experiencing long-term unemployment. We focus on two facets of dispositional justice sensitivity that reflect individual differences in perception and reactions to perpetrating injustice against others (perpetrator sensitivity) or suffering ...

Population Aging at Cross-Roads: Diverging Secular Trends in Average Cognitive Functioning and Physical Health in the Older Population of Germany

This paper uses individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to model trends in population health in terms of cognition, physical fitness, and mental health between 2006 and 2012. The focus is on the population aged 50–90. We use a repeated population-based cross-sectional design. As outcome measures, we use SF-12 measures of physical and mental health and the Symbol-Digit Test (SDT) ...

Strong or Weak Handgrip? Normative Reference Values for the German Population across the Life Course Stratified by Sex, Age, and Body Height

Handgrip strength is an important biomarker of healthy ageing and a powerful predictor of future morbidity and mortality both in younger and older populations. Therefore, the measurement of handgrip strength is increasingly used as a simple but efficient screening tool for health vulnerability. This study presents normative reference values for handgrip strength in Germany for use in research and clinical ...

Earnings inequality in Germany: A decomposition-analysis

Several studies have shown that income inequality has risen in Germany until 2005. Less focus was put on the rise of earnings inequality which continued to rise until 2010. We distinguish different groups in the labour market with respect to working-time, gender and region by exploiting data from the German Socio-Economic panel (SOEP) for the years 1995 till 2014. Using the decomposition of the Theil1-index ...

The happy artist? An empirical application of the work-preference model

The artistic labor market is marked by several adversities, such as low wages, above-average unemployment, and constrained underemployment. Nevertheless, it attracts many young people. The number of students exceeds the available jobs by far. A potential explanation for this puzzle is that artistic work might result in exceptionally high job satisfaction, a conjecture that has been mentioned at various ...

Long-Term Unemployment during the Transition to a Market Economy: Eastern Germany after Unification