Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Wage Decompositions Using Panel Data Sample Selection Correction

This paper analyzes wage decomposition methodology in the context of panel data sample selection embedded in a correlated random effects setting. Identification issues unique to panel data are examined for their implications for wage decompositions. As an empirical example, we apply our methodology to German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data with which we investigate gender wage differentials in the ...

Educational choice and risk preferences: How important is relative vs. individual risk preference?

The primary goal of this article is to examine the influence of relative vs. individual risk preference in educational choice. To do so, we discuss relative risk preference in prospect theory and in sociological models of educational choice and debate the notable but widely neglected importance of individual risk preferences for educational plans and decisions. We analyze these different forms of risk ...

The Regional Distribution and Correlates of an Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A Socioecological Perspective

In recent years the topic of entrepreneurship has become a major focus in the social sciences, with renewed interest in the links between personality and entrepreneurship. Taking a socioecological perspective to psychology, which emphasizes the role of social habitats and their interactions with mind and behavior, we investigated regional variation in and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone Big ...

Personality and the Gender Gap in Self-Employment: A Multi-Nation Study

What role does personality play in the pervasive gender gap in entrepreneurship across the globe? This two-study analysis focuses on self-employment in the working population and underlying gender differences in personality characteristics, thereby considering both single trait dimensions as well as a holistic, configural personality approach. Applying the five-factor model of personality, Study 1, ...

Integrating psychological approaches to entrepreneurship: the Entrepreneurial Personality System (EPS)

Understanding the psychological nature and development of the individual entrepreneur is at the core of contemporary entrepreneurship research. Since the individual functions as a totality of his or her single characteristics (involving the interplay of biological, psychosocial, and context-related levels), a person-oriented approach focusing on intraindividual dynamics seems to be particularly fruitful ...

New directions in behavioural economics : essays on personality and well-being

This thesis is divided into two parts, each consisting of two self-contained chapters. The first part provides new findings in the economics of personality, and well-being. Chapter 1 studies the implications of ‘personality mismatch’. Mismatch in labour economics has generally been treated as a ‘black box’. Therefore, the well-being impact on a poorly matched worker is not well understood. I find that ...

Distributional and Welfare Effects of Germany's Year 2000 Tax Reform

This paper empirically investigates distributional and welfare effects of Germany’s year 2000 income tax reform. The reform is simulated in an ex-ante behavioral microsimulation approach. Dead weight loss of changes in capital income taxation is estimated in a structural model for household savings and asset demand applied to German survey data. Significant reductions in tax rates result in income ...

EUROMOD Country Report Germany: EUROMOD Version F6.0; Project on Behalf of the Directorate-General for Employment, Social affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission

Parental Labor Market Success and Children's Education Attainment

This study examines the effects of parental labor market activities on children's education attainment. In contrast to the existing literature we consider parental experiences until the children graduate from school. In addition, the effects of the regional economic environment during teacher's decision about the secondary school track are analyzed. Using data drawn from the German Socio-Economic ...

Are Recessions Good for Educational Attainment?

In this study, we examine how economic performance during the child-specific primary school phase, during which teachers make recommendations regarding secondary school level, affects the educational level achieved ultimately by these children. Using data for Germany, we find that an economic downturn, coupled with increased unemployment, affects children's education attainment negatively. In ...