Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Effect of Panel Attrition on Measures of Income Inequality and Change in the European Community Household Panel User Data Base (ECHP UDB)

Extent and Determinants of Panel Attrition in the European Household Panel

Analysing Wage Differences Between the USA and Germany Using Proportional Hazards Models

Downward Wage Rigidity in Europe: A New Flexible Parametric Approach and Empirical Results

We suggest a new parametric approach to estimate the extent of downward nominal wage rigidity in ten European countries between 1995 and 2001. The database used throughout is the User Data Base of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The proposed approach is based on the generalized hyperbolic distribution, which allows to model wage change distributions characterized by thick tales, skewness ...

What determines wage differentials across the EU?

We analyse determinants of the wage differentials observed between thirteen European countries using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The empirical decomposition is based on a proportional hazards model. The approach based on rank invariant estimators is borrowed from the literature on failure time data and has been adapted by Donald et al. (Rev Econ Stud 67:609–633, 2000) to analyse ...

Do Means-tested Benefits Alleviate Poverty?: Evidence on Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom from the Luxembourg Income Study

This article analyses the relationship between means-tested benefits and poverty in Western Europe. Means-tested benefits, as social assistance or housing benefits, are designed as safeguards against poverty for the low-income strata of the population, but our knowledge on their impact is fairly limited. How effective are they in reducing poverty rates? To what degree can they fill the gap that income ...

Is There Income Poverty in Western Europe? Methodological Pitfalls in the Measurement of Poverty in a Comparative Perspective

Private Pensions - A Viable Alternative? Their Distributive Effects in a Comparative Perspective

Wage Performance of Immigrants in Germany

This paper uses a large survey (SOEP) to update and deepen our knowledge about the labor market performance of immigrants in Germany. It documents that immigrant workers initially earn on average 20 percent less than native workers with otherwise identical characteristics. The gap is smaller for immigrants from advanced countries, with good German language skills, and with a German degree, and larger ...

Household Savings Decision and Income Uncertainty

This paper empirically investigates the effects of changes in the interest rate as well as transitory income uncertainty on households' consumption-savings decision. Applying a structural demand model to German survey data, we estimate the uncompensated interest rate elasticity for savings, in line with the literature, to around zero. Accordingly, any policy-induced variation of net returns to ...