Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Effects of a Sick Pay Reform on Absence and on Health-Related Outcomes

We evaluate the effects of a reduction in sick pay from 100 to 80% of the wage. Unlike previous literature, apart from absence from work, we also consider effects on doctor/hospital visits and subjective health indicators. We also add to the literature by estimating both switch-on and switch-off effects, because the reform was repealed two years later. We find a two-day reduction in the number of days ...

The effects of parental leave extension on training for young women

Using three datasets for West Germany, we estimate the effect of the extension of parental leave from between 10 and 18 to 36 months on young women’s participation in job-related training. Specifically, we employ difference-in-differences identification strategies using control groups of older women and young and older men. We find that parental leave extension negatively affects job-related training ...

The effects of pension changes on age of first benefit receipt: Regression discontinuity evidence from repatriated ethnic Germans

To estimate the effects of large cuts in pensions on the age of first benefit receipt, we exploit two natural experiments in which such cuts affect a group of repatriated ethnic German workers. The pensions were cut by about 12%, yet, according to our regression discontinuity estimates using administrative pension data, there was no significant delay in the age of first pension receipt. Based on additional ...

Persistence of the School Entry Age Effect in a System of Flexible Tracking

The Effects of Incomplete Employee Wage Information: A Cross-Country Analysis

The Gender Pay Gap Across Countries: A Human Capital Approach

The gender wage gap varies across countries. For example, among OECD nations women in Australia, Belgium, Italy and Sweden earn 80% as much as males, whereas in Austria, Canada and Japan women earn about 60%. Current studies examining cross-country differences focus on the impact of labor market institutions such as minimum wage laws and nationwide collective bargaining. However, these studies neglect ...

Housing and health in Germany

Estimating a Life Cycle Model with Unemployment and Human Capital Depreciation

Robust Estimation of Wage Dispersion with Censored Data: An Application to Occupational Earnings Risk and Risk Attitudes

We present a semiparametric method to estimate group-level dispersion, which is particularly effective in the presence of censored data. We apply this procedure to obtain measures of occupation-specific wage dispersion using top-coded administrative wage data from the German IAB Employment Sample (IABS). We then relate these robust measures of earnings risk to the risk attitudes of individuals working ...

Crowding-out of Unskilled Workers in the Business Cycle: Evidence from West Germany