Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Disentangling the Effects of a Banking Crisis: Evidence from German Firms and Counties

Lending cuts by banks directly affect the firms borrowing from them, but also indirectly depress economic activity in the regions in which they operate. This paper moves beyond firm-level studies by estimating the effects of an exogenous lending cut by a large German bank on firms and counties. I construct an instrument for regional exposure to the lending cut based on a historic, postwar breakup of ...

All you need is love? Trade shocks, inequality, and risk sharing between partners

A large literature suggests that growing international trade is among the drivers of rising labor earnings inequality within countries. We contribute to this literature by studying the distributional effects of Germany’s trade integration with China and Eastern Europe. We provide evidence that the trade shock explains 5–18% of the rise in earnings inequality between individual workers. However, when ...

Is There a Trade-off Between Job Security and Wages in Germany and the UK?

Individual Overtime Functions With Double Correction For Selectivity Bias

Job Changes and Wages (Chapter 7)

All Goes Faster but Lasts Longer: Computer Work and Overtime Work

Unpaid overtime, the use of personal computers and wage differentials

Is There a Varying Unexplained Gender Wage Gap in Germany?

The nonlinear link between height and wages in Germany, 1985-2004

Based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel, this article investigates the relationship between height and wages by gender. Unlike previous investigations, which have been limited to an examination of linear effects, this one finds that height influences on wages are curvilinear, and more so for men than for women. More specifically, it finds that women who are shorter than average and men who ...

Are Tall People Less Risk Averse than Others?

This paper examines the question of whether risk aversion of prime-age workers is negatively correlated with human height to a statistically significant degree. A variety of estimation methods, tests and specifications yield robust results that permit one to answer this question in the affirmative. Hausman-Taylor panel estimates, however, reveal that height effects disappear if personality traits and ...