Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Millennials' Public Service Motivation and Sector Choice: A Panel Study of Job Entrants in Germany

The construct of public service motivation (PSM) has gained a lot of attention as a motivational force for joining the public sector. However, since its introduction by Perry and Wise (1990), research based on longitudinal data linking PSM with actual behavior, i.e. joining the public sector, has remained scarce, particularly with respect to Germany. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel ...

Fertility progression in Germany: An analysis using flexible nonparametric cure survival models

Objective: This paper uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to study the transition to second and third births. In particular, we seek to distinguish the factors that determine the timing of fertility from the factors that influence ultimate parity progression. Methods: We employ cure survival models, a technique commonly used in epidemiological studies and in the statistical literature ...

Unemployment and portfolio choice: Does persistence matter?

Households can rely on private savings or on public unemployment insurance to hedge against the risk of becoming unemployed. These hedging mechanisms are used differently across countries. In this paper, we use a life cycle model to study the effects of unemployment on the portfolio choice of households in the US and in Germany. We distinguish short- and long-term unemployment and find that, in case ...

Unemployed - and Unwilling to Work?

Model Event History of Car and License Availability: How Accessibility Shapes Acquisition and Disposal of Cars

Sound forecasts of car and driver’s license availability are crucial for accurate estimates of future mobility trends and the development of planning strategies. Often these forecasts ignore dynamic trends and spatial influences. Cross-sectional analysis reveals that in areas with good accessibility by alternative modes, many households live with no or only one car even if they can afford a vehicle. ...

Poverty and the Dynamics of Social Networks: An Analysis of German Panel Data

How do social relationships develop when people fall into poverty or suffer from poverty over a long period of time? While literature regarding poverty and social relationships exists, respective dynamics and causality questions remain unanswered. We use longitudinal German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data from 1992 to 2013 and analyse contact frequency, the size of social networks, as well as their ...

School-to-Work Linkages, Educational Mismatches, and Labor Market Outcomes

A recurring question in public and scientific debates is whether occupation-specific skills enhance labor market outcomes. Is it beneficial to have an educational degree that is linked to only one or a small set of occupations? To answer this question, we generalize existing models of the effects of (mis)match between education and occupation on labor market outcomes. Specifically, we incorporate the ...

Income Growth in German Households - East Germany Falls Behind

Five Years after the Reform of the Social and Unemployment Benefits in Germany

Great expectations were connected with the so-called Hartz IV reform which came into effect five years ago. In fact the number of unemployed recipients of Hartz IV benefits drastically went down during the last economic rebound. In earlier economic cycles the number of unemployed recipients of social benefits had stagnated in phases of recovery. But this alone is only a weak sign for success: Firstly, ...

Missing Minorities: Explaining Low Migrant Blood Donation Participation and Developing Recruitment Tactics

Missing Minorities (MIMI) is a research project initiated by the European Blood Alliance that aims to develop new strategies to recruit blood donors from minority groups. This paper contributes to this larger project by analyzing data of the German Socio-Economic Panel study 2011 that questioned over 20,000 respondents about their blood donation behavior. Within this sample, the authors identify 1,726 ...