Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Observability, Honesty, and the Social Image Costs of Lying

We study the role of social image in influencing lying behavior through a pre-registered within-subject experiment embedded in the 2020 wave of the German SocioEconomic Panel Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS). By exogenously manipulating the observability of lying across two tasks, we explore how individuals respond to increased image costs of lying. By exploiting the rich comprehensive socio-demographic ...

Utilisation of dental services by refugees in Germany: Results of the population-based RESPOND survey

Background: The utilisation of outpatient dental services is an important indicator for monitoring healthcare provision in Germany. In the general population, the 12-month prevalence of dental service utilization is 82.2 %. For refugees, this indicator has hardly been measured, although studies suggest an objectively high need for dental care. Methodology: As part of the population-based cross-sectional ...

The Long-term Effects of Inflation on Inflation Expectations

We study the long-term effects of inflation surges on inflation expectations. German households living in areas with higher local inflation during the hyperinflation of the 1920s expect higher inflation today. Our evidence points towards a transmission of inflation experiences from parents to children and through local institutions. Differential historical inflation also modulates the updating of expectations ...

Nonparametric regression with selectively missing covariates

We consider the problem of regression with selectively observed covariates in a nonparametric framework. Our approach relies on instrumental variables that explain variation in the latent covariates but have no direct effect on selection. The regression function of interest is shown to be a weighted version of observed conditional expectation where the weighting function is a fraction of selection ...

Correction for Breznau et al., Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty

Ukrainian refugees: Nearly half intend to stay in Germany for the longer term

Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced by the Russian war on Ukraine, with over one million alone coming to Germany since the beginning of the war. Data from the second survey wave of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany study show that as of the beginning of 2023, an increasing share of Ukrainian refugees plan on staying in Germany for the longer term. Around three ...

Social Trust and the Quality of Government: Evidence for a Reciprocal Relationship

This study theorizes that the relationship between social trust and governmental quality is reciprocal. Examining the relationship in one direction, we utilize socioeconomic conditions as a performance measure of governmental quality and assess their impact on social trust. Going in the other direction, we examine the effects of social trust on political behavior as a determinant of governmental quality. ...

Income, work, and health satisfaction differ primarily by household income, age, and parental status

Subjective well-being is essential for both quality of life and a healthy society. Studies have shown that satisfied people have better relationships, are more productive, and have a longer life expectancy. General life satisfaction is being discussed as an alternative measure of prosperity beyond GDP. Thus, findings on this topic are relevant for both the scientific community as well as policymakers. ...

Kids or no kids? Life goals in one’s 20s predict midlife trajectories of well-being

For many people, parenthood constitutes a crucial part of a successful life. Yet, the number of adults who never have children is increasing and has prompted concerns about their well-being. Past research mostly focused on parents and rarely investigated factors that are theoretically meaningful for the well-being of adults without children. Our preregistered study uses a propensity-score matched design ...

Lonely Today, Lonely Tomorrow: Temporal Dynamics of Loneliness in Everyday Life and its Associations With Psychopathological Symptoms

Although theory emphasizes that loneliness fluctuates in everyday life, most previous studies focused on the general and stable tendency of feeling lonely. In the present study, we used daily diary data collected over two 4-week periods (N1 = 3,309; N2 = 907) to examine different indicators of temporal dynamics of loneliness in everyday life and compare them with temporal dynamics of positive and negative ...