Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Panel Survey Recruitment With or Without Interviewers? Implications for Nonresponse, Panel Consent, and Total Recruitment Bias

Panel surveys are increasingly experimenting with the use of self-administered modes of data collection as alternatives to more expensive interviewer-administered modes. As data collection costs continue to rise, it is plausible that future panel surveys will forego interviewer administration entirely. We examine the implications of this scenario for recruitment bias in the first wave of a panel survey ...

Sampling the Ethnic Minority Population in Germany. The Background to “Migration Background”

The paper discusses techniques for sampling the “migrant background” population in Germany, which comprises all first-generation immigrants, all non-citizens born in Germany, and all children with at least one parent fulfilling one of these criteria. Random walk sampling and random digit dialing techniques are feasible for sampling this population as a whole, but inefficient for subgroups. Telephone ...

Refugees entered the labor market later than other migrants

It has taken longer for refugees who have been living in Germany for some time, particularly those who arrived between 1990 and 2010, to take up gainful employment than other migrants. These findings are based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample. In addition, these refugees show a higher rate of unemployment and earn lower incomes by comparison even years ...

On the Evolution of Household Income

Also on Sundays, Women Perform Most of the Housework and Child Care

Paid and unpaid work are still distributed very unequally between men and women in Germany. Regardless of time restrictions imposed by gainful employment, there is a gender- specific gap in time spent on housework and child care (gender care gap). The total volume of paid and unpaid work on weekdays is roughly the same for men and women (approx. 11 hours), although women perform more unpaid and men ...

A Different Look at Lenin's Legacy: Trust, Risk, Fairness and Cooperativeness in the Two Germanies

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust? To answer this question, we use the reunification of Germany as a natural experiment and study the post-reunification trajectory of convergence with regard to individuals’ trust and risk, as well as perceived fairness and cooperativeness. Our hypotheses are derived from a model of German reunification ...

Parental Risk Attitudes and Children’s Secondary School Track Choice

It is well known that individuals’ risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and also educational attainment, but there is barely any evidence on whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of dependent children. We add to this literature and examine children’s secondary school track choice in Germany where tracking occurs at age ten ...

Working time preferences, hours mismatch and well-being of couples: Are there spillovers?

Working time arrangements determine, to a large extent, the successful balancing of work and family life. This study investigates the role of working time preferences and hours mismatch for well-being among couples. The empirical evidence indicates that well-being is generally lower among those with working time mismatch. Particularly underemployment is detrimental for well-being. We further provide ...

The Research Data Centre of the German Federal Employment Agency: Data Supply and Demand between 2004 and 2009

Does (Event) History Matter? A Spell-Based Approach to Poverty Dynamics