Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

What Drives Reciprocal Behavior? The Optimal Provision of Incentives over the Course of Careers

We explore how inherent preferences for reciprocity and repeated interaction interact in an optimal incentive system. Developing a theoretical model of a long-term employment relationship, we first show that reciprocal preferences are more important when an employee is close to retirement. At earlier stages, repeated interaction is more important because more future rents can be used to provide incentives. ...

Loafing or Learning? The Demand for Informal Education

Job Design and Job Satisfaction – Empirical Evidence for Germany?

The present paper uses a large representative data set for Germany to analyze the effect of an enriched job design, which is characterized by a high degree of autonomy and multitasking, on job satisfaction. In our empirical approach we take job satisfaction as a proxy variable for workers’ utility following the approach suggested in Clark/Oswald (1996). We present clear evidence that modern job design ...

Smoothing Hazard Functions and Time-Varying Effects in Discrete Duration and Competing Risks Models

A Behaviouristic Approach for Measuring Poverty: The Decomposition Approach – Empirical Illustrations for Germany 1995-2009

In this paper an alternative approach with regard to poverty measurement is discussed: the so-called decomposition approach. This method differentiates between various social groups in the sense that for each group a separate poverty line is determined. E. g., household size might be a criterion for such a social differentiation. By doing this, the problem of traditional poverty measurement to refer ...

A New Framework of Measuring Inequality: Variable Equivalence Scales and Group-Specific Well-Being Limits – Sensitivity Findings for German Personal Income Distribution 1995-2009

The discussion paper examines sensitivity influences on the German personal income distribution in a time-series perspective and in a methodically broad manner. The author spins on the following “adjusting screws” of distributional analyses: (1) different kinds of equivalence scales, (2) different demarcations of income areas (in the sense of social classes), (3) different inequality indicators, and ...

Impacts of an Ageing Society on Macroeconomics and Income Inequality – The Case of Germany since the 1980s

The discussion paper is concerned with the interplay between demography and macroeconomics on one hand and macroeconomics and income inequality on the other hand. For this purpose, several estimation equations are derived by econometric methods (on the empirical basis of the 1984-2010 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) waves). In concrete terms, the macroeconomic variables inflation, economic growth, ...

Income Inequality and Poverty in Front of and During the Economic Crisis – An Empirical Investigation for Germany 2002-2010

Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), both income inequality and poverty are considered for Germany in front of and during the economic crisis 2008-2010. This comprises binary logistic regressions where it is tested whether a person is belonging to a certain income region or not. The units of analysis are differentiated by residential status, nationality, sex, age, household size/household ...

Socio-Economic Influences on Income Inequality – Projections for Germany

The discussion paper corresponds with the presentation of a poster at the 2012 annual conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW) in Boston with the title “Measuring and Predicting Individual Well-Being on the Basis of a New Methodical Framework – The Case of Germany 1995-2009”. The paper deals with socioeconomic influences upon the future German personal income ...

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Equivalence Scales for West Germany Based on Subjective Data on Life Satisfaction

The present study calculates variable, cross-sectional as well as longitudinal equivalence scales on the basis of the German 1984-2010 Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) database for West Germany. It follows the “individual variant” for calculating subjective equivalence scales using “life satisfaction” as a proxy variable for “utility”. The cross-sectional scale estimates are characterised by relatively ...