Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Happiness and Longevity: Unhappy People Die Young, Otherwise Happiness Probably Makes No Difference

Based on analysis of long-running panel surveys in Germany and Australia, we offer a revised assessment of the relationship between subjective well-being (happiness, life satisfaction) and longevity. Most previous research has reported a linear positive relationship; the happier people are, the longer they live (Diener and Chan in Appl Psychol Health Well-Being 3:1–43, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x). ...

A Metadata-Driven Approach to Panel Data Management and its Application in DDI on Rails

This dissertation designs a metadata-driven infrastructure for panel data that aims to increase both the quality and the usability of the resulting research data. Data quality determines whether the data appropriately represent a particular aspect of our reality. Usability originates notably from a conceivable documentation, accessibility of the data, and interoperability with tools and other data ...

Integrating Personality Psychology into Economics

This paper reviews the problems and potential benefits of integrating personality psychology into economics. Economists have much to learn from and contribute to personality psychology.

Hard Evidence on Soft Skills

This paper summarizes recent evidence on what achievement tests measure; how achievement tests relate to other measures of “cognitive ability” like IQ and grades; the important skills that achievement tests miss or mismeasure, and how much these skills matter in life. Achievement tests miss, or perhaps more accurately, do not adequately capture, soft skills – personality traits, goals, motivations, ...

Efficiency and distribution effects of a revenue-neutral income tax reform

Are economic conditions related to nonnormative life satisfaction development? Evaluating the relative impact of economic conditions, personality, and subjective health

This study examined the relative contribution of psychological and socioeconomic resources to explaining qualitative individual differences in life satisfaction development. We used growth mixture modeling and a cohort-sequential design to investigate life satisfaction development from age 25 to 65, in a nationally representative panel (the SOEP). Eighty-three percent of the participants experienced ...

Perceived control in low-control circumstances: Control beliefs predict a greater decrease in life satisfaction following job loss

Whereas perceived control is generally conducive to effective self-regulation and well-being, it may predict more negative reactions to life events that are associated with a disconfirmation of control. Using data from a nationally representative panel study (the GSOEP) we tested whether perceived control is associated with more negative reactions to job loss (i.e., a partially uncontrollable negative ...

The Darmstadt Micro-Macro-Simulator - Consistency Check and Data Modelling of GSOEP

The Collapse of the Berlin Wall: Simulating State-Level East to West German Migration Patterns

Smoking Behaviour and Tobacco Control Measures in Germany: Evidence from the SOEP

A striking trend in health-related consumption behaviour across all OECD countries has been a steady decline in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption over the last few decades. In Germany, this gradual decline in tobacco use started only at the beginning of the 21st century. Various tobacco control measures have been implemented simultaneously in Germany, ranging from advertising and smoking ...