Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Causes and Consequences of Adopting a Works Council

This paper reports on the results of a study on the determinants of the introduction of a works council and its consequences.We consider the effects of expectations concerning the economic conditions of a firm on the probability of adopting a works council. This is done, on the one hand, by use of employees’ expectations on employment security and, on the other hand, by including forecasts of the management ...

Impact of Educational and Religious Homogamy on Marital Stability

Using a rich panel data set from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we test whether spouses who are similar to each other in certain respects have a lower probability of divorce than dissimilar spouses. We focus on the effect of homogamy with respect to education and church attendance. Gary Becker's theory of marriage predicts that usually, positive assortative mating is optimal. Our results, however, ...

Labor division between wife and husband and the risk of divorce: New evidence for Germany

Using German panel data from 1984 to 2007, we analyze the impact of labor division between husband and wife on the risk of divorce. Gary Becker's theory of marriage predicts that specialization in domestic and market work, respectively, reduces the risk of separation. Traditionally, the breadwinner role is assigned to the husband, however, female labor force participation and their wages have ...

System-Based Analysis of Income Distribution Impacts on Mobility Behaviour

How to do emprirical economics

Demand-side determinants of rising hospital admissions in Germany: the role of ageing

In this study, we investigated the relationship between changes in demand-side determinants and changes in hospital admissions. We used longitudinal market-wide data, including a novel detailed measure of population morbidity. To assess the effect of ageing, we interacted age with shifts in the population structure for both the surviving population and the population in their last year of life. We ...

The impact of having children on domain-specific life satisfaction: A quasi-experimental longitudinal investigation using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data

Longitudinal studies have documented improvements in parents’ life satisfaction due to childbearing, followed by postpartum adaptation back to baseline. However, the details underlying this process remain largely unexplored. Based on past literature, set-point theory, and results from an exploratory sample, we investigated empirically how first childbirth affected satisfaction with specific domains ...

Editorial

On the way from misery to happiness? A longitudinal perspective on economic migration and well-being

The assessment of returns from migration lies at the very heart of migration research. While a growing body of literature examines the links between migration and well-being, dynamic relationships require further elaboration. Using the longest running, nationally representative panel study with information on well-being, the German Socio-Economic Panel (1985–2016) this article addresses two essential, ...

Returns to Regional Migration: Causal Effect or Selection on Wage Growth?

At the interface of economy, geography and sociology the presentation deals with wage effects of geographic mobility. Investigating pecuniary returns to geographic mobility, researchers have to tackle the problem that migrants assess greater innate ability and motivation. Empirical studies show that migrants are favorably self-selected with respect to human capital characteristics. To get rid of potential ...