Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Population Aging and Trends in the Provision of Work-Place Training

This study investigates whether the incidence and distribution of work-place training has changed as the German workforce commenced its demographic aging process. As the lifespan in productive employment lengthens human capital investments for older workers become increasingly worthwhile. Using data taken from two different German population surveys we describe recent trends in the development of human ...

Incentive Effects in the Demand for Health Care: A Bivariate Panel Count Data Estimation

Fertility Effects of Child Benefits

We exploit the 1996 reform of the German child benefit program to identify the causal effect of heterogeneous child benefits on fertility. While generally the reform increased child benefits, the exact amount of the increase varied by household income and the number of children. We use these heterogeneities to identify their causal effects on fertility in a difference-in-difference setting. We apply ...

Patterns of Welfare Dependence Before and After a Reform: Evidence from First Generation Immigrants and Natives in Germany

This paper studies the patterns of welfare dependence among first generation immigrants and natives in Germany before and after a substantial recent reform of the welfare system. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, the analysis presents life cycle trajectories of transfer receipt for immigrants and natives and studies the correlation between contextual factors and transfer receipt. ...

State Dependence in Welfare Receipt: Transitions Before and After a Reform

We study state dependence in welfare receipt and investigate whether welfare transitions changed after a welfare reform. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we apply dynamic multinomial logit estimators and find that state dependence in welfare receipt is not a central feature of the German welfare system. We find that welfare transitions changed after the reform: transitions from welfare ...

Apprenticeship, Vocational Training and Early Labor Market Outcomes in East and West Germany

We study the returns to apprenticeship and vocational training for three early labor market outcomes all measured at age 25 for East and West German youths: non-employment (i.e., unemployment or out of the labor force), permanent fulltime employment, and wages. We find strong positive effects of apprenticeship and vocational training. There are no significant differences for different types of vocational ...

The Transition´s Mortality Crisis in East Germany

Several studies have indicated an increase in men's mortality in East Germany between 1989 and 1991 in the wake of the reunification of 1990. For some age-groups, death rates soared by up to thirty per cent. This study investigates the evolution and the causes of such ashort term demographic crisis. A preliminary analysis clearly indicates that the reported mortality growth is not just a statistical ...

The stature of the self-employed and its relation with earnings and satisfaction

Taller individuals have on average a higher socio-economic status than shorter individuals. In countries where entrepreneurs have high social status, we may therefore expect that entrepreneurs are taller than wage workers. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2002–2012), we find that a 1 cm increase in an individual's height raises the probability of being self-employed (the most common ...

It's All About Gains: Risk Preferences in Problem Gambling

Problem gambling is a serious socioeconomic problem involving high individual and social costs. In this article, we study risk preferences of problem gamblers including their risk attitudes in the gain and loss domains, their weighting of probabilities, and their degree of loss aversion. Our findings indicate that problem gamblers are systematically more risk taking and less sensitive toward changes ...

Increasing inequalities in Germany: Older people´s employment lives and income conditions since the mid-1980s