Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Immigration and the Evolution of Local Cultural Norms

We study the local evolution of cultural norms in West Germany in reaction to the sudden presence of East Germans who migrated to the West after reunification. These migrants grew up with very high rates of maternal employment, whereas West German families followed the traditional breadwinner-housewife model. We find that West German women increase their labor supply and that this holds within household. ...

No evidence that economic inequality moderates the effect of income on generosity

Are the rich less generous than the poor? Results of studies on this topic have been inconsistent. Recent research that has received widespread academic and media attention has provided evidence that higher income individuals are less generous than poorer individuals only if they reside in a US state with comparatively large economic inequality. However, in large representative datasets from the United ...

United, Yet Apart? A Note on Persistent Labour Market Differences between Western and Eastern Germany

Comparing aggregate statistics and surveying selected empirical studies, this paper shows that the characteristics and results of labour markets in eastern and western Germany have become quite similar in some respects but still differ markedly in others even 25 years after unification. Whereas no substantial differences can be detected in firms' labour demand decisions and in employees' ...

Family and Gender Still Matter: The Heterogeneity of Returns to Education in Germany

The Effect of Relative Standing on Considerations About Self-Employment

This paper uses unique German data to examine the effects of the relative standing on the individual propensity to become self-employed in the next two years. The results suggest that the relationship between relative wage positions and propensity to become self-employed is U-shaped. This is interpreted as evidence that low status translates into entrepreneurial motivation for workers in low relative ...

My Wage is Unfair! Just a Feeling or Comparison with Peers?

This paper descriptively analyzes the nexus between income comparisons and perceptions of unfair pay. A German household survey reveals that individuals who perceive their wages as unfair earn signicantly lower wages than fairly paid individuals with similar characteristics. This suggests that unfairness perceptions with respect to wages are based on sound income comparisons with peers. When asked ...

Determinants and Consequences of Health Behaviour: New Evidence from German Micro Data

The economic costs of chronic health conditions and severe illnesses like diabetes, coronary heart disease or cancer are immense. Several clinical trials give information about the importance of individual behaviour for the prevalence of these illnesses. Changes in health relevant behaviour may therefore lead to a decline of avoidable illnesses and related health care costs. In this context, we use ...

Health Behaviour and Health Assessment: Evidence from German Microdata

The importance of the individual’s health behaviour for the health production process is beyond controversy. Health relevant behaviour can be viewed as a key variable in the health production process. Changes in the behaviour may influence individual’s assessment of health. Following this idea, we use German microdata to identify determinants of smoking, drinking, and obesity and their impact on health. ...

Health and the Decision to Invest in Education

The paper analyses the relationship between health and education in a two period human capital framework. The resulting substitution and investment effects between health and advanced training work in opposite direction and leave open questions for the empirical part. As econometric model we use a random effects probit model for panel data. Our data consist of 322 individuals for the two years 2004 ...

A step in a new direction? The effect of the parent’s money reform of 2007 on employment rates of mothers in Germany

Increasing maternal employment rates engage policies and people for decades. It is pushed but also questioned at the same time depending on whether women are regarded in first line as mothers or workers. In Germany, the male breadwinner model is traditionally favored. The parent’s money reform of 2007 is regarded as a first step towards the dual earner – dual carer model by some scholars. Compared ...