Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Labour market integration of refugee’s in Germany: Is there evidence for a refugee gap?

In this thesis, I examine the existence of a refugee gap in Germany. In more detail, I research the differences in net income and employment rate for immigrants with different motives for migration. In order to do that I use data from the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample which is a joint project from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for ...

A Joint Hazard-Longitudinal Model of the Timing of Migration, Immigrant Quality, and Labor Market Assimilation

This paper develops and estimates a joint hazard-longitudinal (JHL) model of the timing of migration and labor market assimilation – two processes that have been assumed to be independent in the existing literature. The JHL model accounts for the endogenous age of entry in estimating the returns to years since migration by allowing cross-equation correlations of random intercepts with individual rates ...

Limits to Wage Growth: Understanding the Wage Divergence between Immigrants and Natives

This study finds evidence of wage divergence between immigrants and natives in Germany using a country-wide household panel from 1984 to 2014. We incorporate the possibility of wage divergence into a two-period model of economic assimilation by modeling the differences in the efficiency of human capital production and prices per unit of human capital between immigrants and natives. Individual rates ...

The double role of ethnic heterogeneity in explaining welfare-state generosity

Based on theoretical models of budget-balanced social insurance and individual choice, we argue that in addition to the well-known empathy mechanism whereby ethnic heterogeneity undermines sentiments of solidarity among a citizenry to reduce welfare generosity, population heterogeneity affects the generosity of a polity’s social insurance programs through another distinct mechanism, political conflict. ...

Income Mobility

We survey the literature on income mobility, aiming to provide an integrated discussion of mobility within- and between-generations. We review mobility concepts, descriptive devices, measurement methods, data sources, and recent empirical evidence.

Estimating labour supply elasticities based on cross-country micro data: A bridge between micro and macro estimates?

The Nordic model relies on high tax rates to finance an extensive welfare state. If labour supply elasticities are large, the burden of financing the model can be large even if, arguably, the practice of providing subsidised goods that support labour supply is likely to mitigate these effects. We utilise repeated cross sections of micro data from several countries, including the four major Nordic countries, ...

Modelling the Joint Distribution of Income and Wealth

This paper considers a parametric model for the joint distribution of income and wealth. The model is used to analyze income and wealth inequality in five OECD countries using comparable household-level survey data. We focus on the dependence parameter between the two variables and study whether accounting for wealth and income jointly reveals a different pattern of social inequality than the traditional ...

The Joint Distribution of Household Income and Wealth. Evidence from the Luxembourg Wealth Study

The Joint Distribution of Income and Wealth

Do the Elderly Reduce Housing Equity? An International Comparison