Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Revisiting the evidence for cardinal treatment of ordinal variables

Well-being (life satisfaction or happiness) is a latent variable that is impossible to observe directly. Moreover, it does not have a unit of measurement. Hence, survey questionnaires usually ask people to rate their well-being in different domains. The common practice of comparing well-being by means of averages or linear regressions ignores the fact that well-being is an ordinal variable. Since data ...

How Income Inequality Influences Life Satisfaction: Hybrid Effects Evidence from the German SOEP

This study uses hybrid effects regressions with the German Socio-Economic Panel to compare differences in happiness between Germans during times of high and low income inequality. It shows that Germans interviewed during times of persistently low inequality were no more satisfied with their lives than Germans during times of persistently high inequality. However, the article also uses within effects ...

Early Retirement in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom: A Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Factors and Institutional Regimes

In this article we investigate whether early retirement patterns vary between countries with distinct early retirement systems. By choosing countries that differ not only with respect to the coverage and generosity of publicly provided pensions but also with respect to the extent to which the state interferes in the non-public pillars of pension provision, we analyse to what extent such issues have ...

The Ageing Workforce and Labour Market Mobility - Do Mobility Patterns Differ between Age Groups and Welfare Regimes?

Measuring Wellbeing in the SOEP

I define wellbeing as preference realization. Wellbeing can be measured with affective (the amount of pleasant versus unpleasant experiences) and cognitive (satisfaction with life in general and life domains) measures. Since its inception 25 years ago, the SOEP has included cognitive measures of wellbeing. In 2007, the SOEP included four items (happy, sad, angry, afraid) as an affective measure of ...

Pattern of Retirement and Exiting Out of Work

Consequences of Job Mobility for the Subsequent Earnings at the Beginning of the Employment Career in Germany and the UK

Using the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984 – 2006 and British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) this paper investigates job-to-job mobility (direct job mobility) and job mobility via unemployment (indirect job mobility) at the beginning of the employment career in Germany and the UK. The analyses show that, in Germany’s rigid labour market, direct voluntary job mobility brings permanent income rewards. ...

The Consequences of Job Mobility for Future Earnings in Early Working Life in Germany - Placing Indirect and Direct Job Mobility into Institutional Context

This article investigates direct job mobility and job mobility via unemployment at the beginning of the employment career in Germany. While the rationale of predicting outcomes of direct job mobility are similar in liberal countries, Germany’s rigid labour market might have different implications for job mobility via unemployment. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984–2006, we will address the ...

Nonparametric estimation of the coefficient of overlapping - theory and empirical application

Explaining Rising Income Inequality in Germany, 1991-2010

In Germany, inequality of net equivalized income increased noticeably in the first half of the new millennium. We aim to identify the main drivers of this rise in income inequality since the early 1990s. We provide a broad overview of the circumstances under which inequality evolved, i.e. which changes in the German economy are most likely to provide an explanation for changes in income concentration. ...