Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Positional Concerns through the Life Cycle: Evidence from Subjective Well-Being Data and Survey Experiments

This paper uses both subjective well-being and survey experimental data to analyze how people’s positional concerns regarding income and goods vary with age. The subjective wellbeing approach is mainly based on German panel data for the period 1984-2009 (German Socio-Economic Panel), while the survey experimental approach is based on a tailor-made experimental design conducted among Swedish adults. ...

Can’t Sleep! Relative Concerns and Sleep Behavior

We investigate the effect of relative concerns with respect to income on the quantity and quality of sleep using a long panel dataset on the sleep behavior of people in Germany. We find that relative income has a substantial negative effect on number of hours of sleep on weekdays and overall satisfaction with sleep, i.e., sleep quality, whereas absolute income has no particular effect on sleep behavior. ...

For Better or for Worse: The Long-Term Effects of Postwar Reconstruction on Family Formation

This paper provides causal evidence on the long-term legacies of postwar reconstruction and mandatory employment on women’s family formation outcomes such as marriage, age at first marriage and divorce. We exploit city-by-cohort variation in the intensity of World War II reconstruction in Germany which determined the mobilization of women in the postwar era. We find that participation in the postwar ...

Children of War: The Long-Run Effects of Large-Scale Physical Destruction and Warfare on Children

This paper provides causal evidence on the long-term consequences of large-scale physical destruction on educational attainment, health status, and labor market outcomes of children. I exploit the plausibly exogenous region- by- cohort variation in the intensity of World War Two (WWII) destruction as a unique quasi- experiment. I fi nd that exposure to destruction had long- lasting detrimental effects ...

War during childhood: The long run effects of warfare on health

This paper estimates the causal long-term consequences of an exposure to war in utero and during childhood on the risk of obesity and the probability of having a chronic health condition in adulthood. Using the plausibly exogenous city-by-cohort variation in the intensity of WWII destruction as a unique quasi-experiment, I find that individuals who were exposed to WWII destruction during the prenatal ...

Women Make Houses, Women Make Homes

This paper examines the persistent effects of historical labor market institutions and policies on women's long-term labor market outcomes. We quantify these enduring effects by exploring quasi-experimental variation in Germany's post-World War II mandatory reconstruction policy, which compelled women to work in the rubble removal and reconstruction process. Using difference-in-differences ...

Learning to Participate in Politics: Evidence from Jewish Expulsions in Nazi Germany

This paper provides causal evidence on the importance of socioeconomic circumstances, socialization, and childhood events, in the formation of adult political behaviour and attitudes, using region-by-cohort variation in exposure to the Jewish expulsions in Nazi Germany as a quasi-experiment. We find that the expulsion of Jewish professionals had long-lasting detrimental effects on the political attitudes ...

Social Changes in Impressionabel Years and Adult Political Attitudes: Evicence from Jewish Expulsions in Nazi Germany

This study provides evidence that individuals who grew up during the 1930's Jewish expulsions are less likely to show interest and participate in politics. The estimates imply that, at the mean, individuals in their impressionable ages at the time of the expulsions are about 13% less likely to be interested in politics and 26% less likely to participate in politics. These results are not found ...

The Long-Term Direct and External Effects of Jewish Expulsions in Nazi Germany

This paper provides causal evidence on long-term consequences of Jewish expulsions in Nazi Germany on the educational attainment and political outcomes of German children. We combine a unique city-level dataset on the fraction of Jewish population residing in Germany before the Nazi Regime with individual survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Our identification strategy exploits ...

Redistributive effects of social benefits in Poland vs analogous effects in other European countries