Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Does more education protect against mental health problems?

Mental health conditions are a leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and health costs worldwide: They account for 199 million DALYs or 37 percent of healthy life years lost from non-communicable diseases. The sum of direct and indirect costs worldwide were estimated to amount to 2.5 trillion US dollars in 2010 and projected to increase to 6 trillion US dollars in 2030 (Bloom et al., ...

Are Forced Migrant Trajectories Path-Dependent? A Markov Analysis

This study evaluates whether the trajectories of forced migrants, specifically Syrian refugees moving towards Germany, exhibit path dependency—meaning that their migration decisions are influenced by past events and their previous migration experiences. Using data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees, this article investigates whether these migration trajectories adhere to a Markov process, where ...

Immigrants’ recruitment chances in the German labor market: Evidence from large-scale survey experiments

Preferences for Centralized Decision-Making in Times of Crisis: the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

The health crisis caused by the rapid spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses enormous challenges to governments around the globe. Far-reaching measures have to be enacted, and even a slight delay can have fatal negative consequences. The necessity for swift and resolute governmental action constitutes a particular predicament for federal democracies like Germany ...

Measurement Invariance of central social science and health constructs among Syrian, Iraq and Afghan refugee groups in Germany

(Forced) migration is a major issue all over Europe. To assess requirements and needs of refugees, self-reports such as surveys are a relevant data collection method. Nevertheless, most measurement instruments are developed and validated in Western contexts. Due to i.e. cultural and language differences, comparability cannot be taken for granted. With the help of multi-group confirmatory analyses and ...

How reception centers affect the integration of asylum seekers and recognized refugees

After arrival, asylum seekers are often housed in reception centers. The type, quality and duration of stay in such centers varies considerably across or within countries. In the context of the so-called “EU refugee crisis” in 2014-2016, reports emerged that some asylum seekers and refugees remained in reception centers for several years due to limited capacity of municipalities, lengthy asylum procedures ...

The causal effect of liberalizing legal requirements on naturalization intentions

This study investigates the multifaceted factors influencing immigrants’ naturalization intentions, with a primary focus on legal requirements and the implementation of naturalization laws. It distinguishes between different groups of non-citizens, such as refugees, European Union (EU) citizens, and non-EU citizens. Employing a vignette experiment among non-citizens in a large-scale representative ...

The Impact of Climate Change on Risk Aversion and Mitigation Behavior: Evidence from Germany

This paper investigates whether the 2013 floods in Germany affected risk preferences and mitigation behavior, using a representative, longitudinal data set. Exploiting the circumstance that this weather phenomenon was unanticipated, we provide robust evidence that flood exposure had a depressing impact on individual willingness to take risks. The effect size corresponds to a 4.85 percent reduction ...

The Performance of Multiple Imputation in Social Surveys with Missing Data from Planned Missingness and Item Nonresponse

Designs using planned missingness, such as the split questionnaire design, are becoming more and more important in social survey research. To ensure an acceptable questionnaire length, these approaches typically entail large amounts of planned missing data, which can be imputed after data collection. However, social surveys typically also include other types of missingness such as item nonresponse ...

Replication: Erat and Gneezy’s white lies paradigm

Not all lies are for self-benefit. Replicating the famous Erat and Gneezy (2012) “white lies” paradigm in a setting that resembles the remote workplace, we expand to explore shirking and beliefs about group behavior. Aggregate misreporting is highest when doing so benefits a salient charity; plausible lies are abundant but abate as workers inflate reports to implausible, maximal outcome white lies. ...