Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Importance of Two-Sided Heterogeneity for the Cyclicality of Labour Market Dynamics

Using two data sets derived from German administrative data, including a linked employer-employee data set, we investigate the cyclicality of worker and job flows.The analysis stresses the importance of two-sided labour market heterogeneity in this context, taking into account both observed and unobserved characteristics.We find that small firms hire mainly unemployed workers, and that they do so at ...

Some (Maybe) Unpleasant Arithmetic in Minimum Wage Evaluations: The Role of Power, Significance and Sample Size

In this paper, we discuss the importance of sample size in the evaluation of minimum wage effects. We first show which sample sizes are necessary to make reliable statements about the effects of minimum wages on binary outcomes, and second how to determine these sample sizes. This is particularly important when interpreting statistically insignificant effects, which could be due to (i) the absence ...

Child and family poverty in Germany

Discrimination in Employment in the Federal Republik of Germany

Evolution and Determinants of Rent Burdens in Germany

The affordability of housing has become a major topic of discussion in Germany among both social scientists and the public at large. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we provide rent-income ratios over more than two decades and show how they change with households’ disposable needs-adjusted income. We find a substantial increase in the ratios over the 1990s. In the decade that ...

Welfare States, Social Structure and the Dynamics of Poverty Rates: A Comparative Study of 16 Countries, 1980-2000

Income Taxation and Household Size: Would French Family Splitting Make German Families Better off?

Assortative mating on risk attitude

Spousal correlation in risk attitude is estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel over the period 2004–2009. We apply the bivariate panel ordered probit model to the analysis of the simultaneous determination of the male’s and the female’s risk attitude, using the survey question about general willingness to take risk, provided on a 0–10 Likert-scale. The correlations between both the ...

Impact of weighting systems on panel surveys (ECHP and SOEP, PSELL2)

Risk Attitudes and Investment Decisions across European Countries. Are Women More Conservative Investors than Men?

This study questions the popular stereotype that women are more risk averse than men in their financial investment decisions. The analysis is based on micro-level data from large-scale surveys of private households in five European countries. In our analysis of investment decisions, we directly account for individuals’ self-perceivedwillingness to take financial risks. The empirical evidence we provide ...