Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Income Comparisons among Neighbours and Life Satisfaction in East and West Germany

This paper draws on the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) to investigate whether changes in others' income are perceived differently in post-transition and capitalist societies. We find that the neighbourhood income effect for West Germany is negative and slightly more marked in neighbourhoods where the neighbours interact socially. In contrast, the coefficients on neighbourhood income ...

Neighbourhood social ties: how much do residential, physical and virtual mobility matter?

Following up on the prediction by classical sociological theorists that neighbours will become irrelevant as societies become more mobile, this research examines the strength of people’s social ties with neighbours and the associations thereof with residential, physical and virtual mobility using longitudinal data for Germany. Unlike previous studies, the research considers the three forms of mobility ...

Keeping up with the Schmidts - An Empirical Test of Relative Deprivation Theory in the Neighbourhood Context

We test empirically whether people’s life satisfaction depends on their relative income position in the neighbourhood, drawing on a unique dataset, the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics. Relative deprivation theory suggests that individuals are happier the better their relative income position in the neighbourhood is. To test ...

Regional Data in the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)

Social mobility, accumulation of disadvantages and health. An analysis with retrospective data from the GSOEP (2002–14)

Socioeconomic position (SEP) in different life stages is related to health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Yet, research on the relevance of life course processes is scarce. This study aims to analyse the association between accumulation of disadvantages, social mobility and HRQoL. Methods: Analyses were conducted using population-averaged panel-data models and are based on data from the German Socio-Economic ...

He's a Chip Off the Old Block - The Persistence of Occupational Choices Across Generations

The purpose of this paper is to assess if parents exert an influence on the occupation choices of their children. Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP), we find a high persistency of occupational decisions across fathers and children using nested and conditional logit models. To separate effects related to genetic factors (nature) and parental education or role models (nurture), we ...

The kernel-location approach: A new non-parametric approach to the analysis of downward nominal wage rigidity in micro data

Downward nominal wage rigidity in Europe: an analysis of European micro data from the ECHP 1994–2001

This paper substantially extends the available evidence on downward nominal wage rigidity in the European Union (EU) and the Euro Area. We develop an econometric multi-country model based on Kahn’s (Am Econ Rev 87(5):993–1008, 1997) histogram-location approach and apply it to employee micro data from the European Community Household Panel for 12 of the EU’s member states. Our estimates for the degree ...

How Real are Wage Rigidities in Europe? An Analysis of European Micro Data from ECHP 1994-2001

A Semi-Parametric Analysis of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the GSOEP 1984-2000