Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Child sick care-related absence from work and the consequences on parents' income

This study investigates the impact of child-related absence from work on the income of working mothers and fathers, addressing a significant research gap in sociology and labour economics. While previous research has established that gender and parenthood significantly influence income levels, the consequences of caring for a sick child-a common and unpredictable responsibility-remain inadequately ...

Earnings expectations of "first-in family" university students and their role for major choice

How do students’ earnings expectations differ by being the first in their family to attend university (FiF) and how do they affect field of study choice? We leverage unique survey and administrative data to document sizable gaps in expected earnings between FiF and non-FiF students. Our data can explain two-thirds of this gap, with the largest share attributable to field of study choice. We show that ...

“Status” concerns and self-employment transitions

This paper investigates whether individuals’ relative (status or positional) concerns are associated with their transitions from paid employment or inactivity to self-employment. The conjecture is that stress and anxiety arising from socio-economic comparisons may be motivating factors for individuals to establish their own businesses. We examine this using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) dataset, ...

Overeducation, performance pay and wages: evidence from Germany

Overeducated workers are more productive and have higher wages in comparison to their adequately educated coworkers in the same jobs. However, they have lower wages than their similarly educated peers who are in correctly matched jobs. This study examines the hypotheses that overeducated workers sort into performance pay jobs as an adjustment mechanism and that performance pay enhances their wages. ...

Social Class and Personality: The Effects of Educational Mobility on Personality Trait Change

Transitioning into young adulthood often brings about significant changes in personality traits. However, the reasons behind these personality changes remain unclear. This study integrates insights from research on personality development and the psychology of social class to study how the construction of one’s social class identity in young adulthood might trigger changes in personality traits (i.e., ...

Dealing with Censored Earnings in Register Data

Earnings are often top-coded (right-censored) in administrative registers. The censoring threshold in the case of Germany is the limit value for social security contributions, leading to a substantial fraction of censoring: For example, about 12 % of male workers in West Germany are affected, rising to above 30 % for highly educated prime-aged workers. This missing right tail of the earnings distribution ...

Prioritize to decarbonize: Thermal retrofits, carbon prices, and energy inequality

The energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the heightened vulnerability of low-income households to rising heating costs, particularly those in energy inefficient buildings. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study examines the distributional impact of heating costs across income deciles and evaluates the effectiveness of policy interventions. We find ...

Involuntary Changes in Commuting Distances: Effects on Subjective Well-Being in the Era of Mobile Internet

Commuting is a fundamental aspect of employees’ daily routines and continues to evolve with technological advancements. Yet the effects of commuting on subjective well-being remain insufficiently investigated in the context of expanding digital connectivity. This paper examines the causal effects of changes in commuting distance on subjective well-being in an era of widespread mobile internet availability. ...

Immigration, segregation, and attitudes toward immigrants: a longitudinal multiscalar analysis across egohoods

Evidence on how proximity to ethnic outgroups shapes attitudes toward immigration remains inconclusive. We suggest this may be driven, in part, by the fact that studies rarely account for the role of residential segregation. We argue that how the minority-share in an environment affects majority-group attitudes will depend on how segregated groups are from one another. To explore this, we undertake ...

Essays in Empirical Labour Economics (Dissertation)