Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Do Couples Bargain over Fertility? Evidence Based on Child Preference Data

Empirical literature has found evidence in favor of household bargaining models. In contrast to earlier tests that are limited to assignable private goods, we use child preference data in order to extend the empirical evidence on household bargaining to public household goods. In the empirical analysis, we exploit the different theoretical predictions for couples with heterogeneous and homogeneous ...

Unconditional Child Benefits, Mothers’ Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being: Evidence from a Policy Reform

In many parts of the developed world, governments devote a significant share of public funds to unconditional family cash transfers in an attempt to promote the economic well-being of households. But how successful are such policies? Germany has one of the world’s most generous child benefit systems, which was subject to a major reform in the mid-1990s. This article exploits the reform using a difference-in-differences ...

Political Socialization in Flux? Linking Family Non-Intactness during Childhood to Adult Civic Engagement

Some sociologists argue that non-intact family structures during childhood have a negative effect on adult children's civic engagement, since they undermine, and in some cases prevent, the processes and activities through which parents shape their children's political attitudes and orientations. In this paper, we evaluate this hypothesis on the basis of longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic ...

Exposure to television and individual beliefs: Evidence from a natural experiment

Does the information provided by mass media have the power to persistently affect individual beliefs about the drivers of success in life? To answer this question empirically, this contribution exploits a natural experiment on the reception of West German television in the former German Democratic Republic. After identifying the impact of Western television on individual beliefs and attitudes in the ...

Personality and Environmental Concern

People vary considerably in their attitudes toward environmental issues. Although some individuals view the environment from a purely utilitarian perspective, others are concerned about environmental sustainability and maintaining an ecological balance. The current study examines the relationship between personality characteristics and environmental concern in a community sample of 2690 German adults. ...

Determinants of Positive Naturalisation Intentions among Germany's Labour Migrants

This study adds another piece to the puzzle of naturalisation among individuals with an immigrant background by further developing the application of social identity. I suggest that two important determinants of an intention to naturalise are identification with one’s country of origin, and discrimination. The effects of these and other predictors associated with social identity theory are empirically ...

Relations between Second-Language Proficiency and National Identification: The Case of Immigrants in Germany

This article discusses and empirically tests the relations between German language proficiency and national identification with Germany among first-generation immigrants in Germany. It presents three theoretical arguments: (i) language proficiency positively affects national identification; (ii) contrastingly, national identification positively influences language proficiency; and (iii) there is a ...

Does religion influence the labor supply of married women in Germany?

Up in the Skies? The Relationship between Body Height and Earnings in Germany

Height and weight in Germany, evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel, 2002

This paper examines the socio-economic variation in height and weight using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Results reinforce previous research insofar as height is associated with socio-economic differences. For example, a low maternal schooling level or a lower position in the income distribution is negatively correlated with the height of West Germans. Furthermore, there is a west–east ...