Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Income Comparisons, Income Adaptation, and Life Satisfaction: How Robust Are Estimates from Survey Data?

Theory suggests that subjective well-being is affected by income comparisons and adaptation to income. Empirical tests of the effects often rely on self-constructed measures from survey data. This paper shows that results can be highly sensitive to simple parameter changes. Using large-scale panel data from Germany and the UK, I report cases where plausible variations in the underlying income type ...

Testing the Easterlin Hypothesis with Panel Data: The Dynamic Relationship Between Life Satisfaction and Economic Growth in Germany and in the UK

Recent studies focused on testing the Easterlin hypothesis (happiness and national income correlate in the cross-section but not over time) on a global level. We make a case for testing the Easterlin hypothesis at the country level where individual panel data allow exploiting important methodological advantages. Novelties of our test of the Easterlin hypothesis are a) long-term panel data and estimation ...

Status Attainment and Wealth in the United States and Germany

Mobility Regimes and Parental Wealth: The United States, Germany, and Sweden in Comparison

We study the role of parental wealth for children’s educational and occupational outcomes across three types of welfare states and outline a theoretical model that assumes parental wealth to impact offspring’s attainment through two mechanisms, wealth’s purchasing function and its insurance function. We argue that welfare states can limit the purchasing function of wealth, for instance by providing ...

Measurement of Poverty - Examplified by the German Case

Similarity in Response Behavior between Household Members - An Application to Income Evaluation

In many household surveys questions are posed to one of the members of the household, assuming that he represents the household. For observed behavior this is mostly permissible; however, for attitudes and opinions, the representativeness is dubious. In this note we report our finding that for subjective questions of the Leyden-type both adult partners appear to answer almost identically.

Can Low-Wage Employment Help People Escape from the No-Pay – Low-Income Trap?

The experience of unemployment itself increases the risk of staying unemployed, and the unemployed face a high poverty risk. Moreover, experiencing poverty reduces the chances of reemployment. As wage inequality has expanded in recent decades, low-paid employment and in-work poverty have both risen. This study analyzes whether low-pay employment helps people escape the no-pay – low-income trap. Survey ...

The impact of participation in sports on educational attainment—New evidence from Germany

We analyze the impact of exercising sports during childhood and adolescence on educational attainment. The theoretical framework is based on models of allocation of time and educational productivity. Using the rich information from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we apply generalized ordered probit models to estimate the effect of participation in sport activities on secondary school degrees ...

Religious activity, risk-taking preferences and financial behaviour: Empirical evidence from German survey data

Individual preferences with respect to risk taking play an important role in financial economic behaviour and hence in financial markets. Using German microdata, we argue that individual religiosity accounts for differences in individual's risk preferences and private financial behaviour. First, we find that adherents of the two main Christian religions in Germany (Protestants and Catholics) are ...

Life Satisfaction in Germany after Reunification: Additional Insights on the Pattern of Convergence

The authors update previous findings on the total East-West gap in overall life satisfaction and its trend by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1992 to 2013. Additionally, the East-West gap and its trend are separately analyzed for men and women as well as for four birth cohorts. The results indicate that reported life satisfaction is on average significantly lower ...