Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Health, retirement and inequality: Can Germany and the UK learn from each other?

This study attempts to understand the effect of health on the decision of older workers to leave the labour market – a decision which is made within the context of the pension and benefit systems of the UK and Germany. The authors found that health is an extremely important factor in the retirement decision for both men and women in the UK and Germany. The effects of poor health seem to be greater ...

Testing the ‘Residential Rootedness’-Hypothesis of Self-Employment for Germany and the UK

Based on the notion that entrepreneurship is a ‘local event’, the literature argues that entrepreneurs are ‘rooted’ in place. This paper tests the ‘residential rootedness’ hypothesis of self-employment by examining for Germany and the UK whether the self-employed are less likely to move over long distances (internal migration) than workers in paid employment. Using longitudinal data from the German ...

Long Maternal Leaves and The Gender Wage Gap (thesis)

This article examines the effect of long parental leave policies on the gender wage gap. I analyze the general equilibrium consequences of the introduction of generous job-protected parental leaves on female wages and female labor force composition. My evidence supports the hypothesis that generous child support for families can be costly for firms; and moreover, that these costs are passed on to women ...

Is Occupational Mobility in Germany Hampered by the Dual Vocational System? The Results of a British-German Comparison

We compare occupational mobility in Germany and Britain and focus on the effects of the German dual vocational system. Based on a comparison of mobility rates for different occupations within each country and between the two countries, we find that mobility is particularly low in German apprenticeship occupations and conclude that the dual system impedes occupational changes. However, German mobility ...

The Temporal Welfare State: A Crossnational Comparison

Personality Has Minor Effects on Panel Attrition

In light of the recent interest in using longitudinal panel data to study personality development, it is important to know if personality traits are related to panel attrition. We analyse the effects of personality on panel drop-out separately for an ‘older’ subsample (started in 1984), a relatively ‘young’ subsample (started in 2000), and a ‘new’ subsample (started in 2009) of the German Socio-Economic ...

Long-term effects of pregnancy and childbirth on sleep satisfaction and duration of first-time and experienced mothers and fathers

To examine the changes in mothers’ and fathers’ sleep satisfaction and sleep duration across prepregnancy, pregnancy, and the postpartum period of up to 6 years after birth; it also sought to determine potential protective and risk factors for sleep during that time. Participants in a large population-representative panel study from Germany reported sleep satisfaction and sleep duration in yearly interviews. ...

Growing up with a single mother and life satisfaction in adulthood: A test of mediating and moderating factors

Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies but only little is known about its long-term effects. We therefore studied life satisfaction among 641 individuals (ages 18–66 years) who spent their entire childhood with a single mother, 1539 individuals who spent part of their childhood with both parents but then experienced parental separation, and 21,943 individuals who grew up with ...

Age Differences in Intertemporal Choice: U-Shaped Associations in a Probability Sample of German Households

To describe adult age differences in intertemporal choice, we analyzed data from 1,491 participants who completed an incentivized monetary intertemporal discounting choice task involving different conditions (e.g., time delay of 12 months vs. 1 month). Respondents completed a number of other survey measures, including behavioral measures of cognitive ability, and self-reports concerning health, financial ...

Validation of the German version of the late adolescence and young adulthood survivorship-related quality of life measure (LAYA-SRQL)

Cancer has adverse effects on patient’s quality of life. As such, measuring quality of life (QoL) has become an integral part of psycho-oncological health care. Because adolescent and young adult patients have different needs in contrast to children and older cancer patients, instruments for adequately measuring QoL of cancer survivors in this age range are essential. As there is not a corresponding ...