Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Sleep Duration and Life Satisfaction

Sleep is an important part of life. Despite this importance, little is known about life satisfaction and sleep duration. Using German panel data, it is shown that sleep is an important factor for life satisfaction and, furthermore, that maximal life satisfaction is associated with about 8 h of sleep on a typical weekday. This figure represents, on average, one hour more than people currently sleep ...

GEE estimation of the covariance structure of a bivariate panel data model with an application to wage dynamics and the incidence of profit-sharing in West Germany

We propose a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach to the estimation of the mean and covariance structure of bivariate time series processes of panel data. The one-step approach allows for mixed continuous and discrete dependent variables. A Monte Carlo Study is presented to compare our particular GEE estimator with more standard GEE-estimators. In the empirical illustration, we apply our ...

Overtime Reductions - Negligible Employment Effects

One of the central bones of contention in the current 'Alliance for Jobs' negotiations is the reduction of overtime and its potential employment effects. While the unions see overtime reductions as a possible means to increase employment, employers are sceptical about the idea, because they fear constraints on their flexibility in the use of labour. Around 1.8 billion paid overtime hours ...

Overtime Work, Overtime Compensation and the Distribution of Economic Well-Being - Evidence for West Germany and Great Britain

Risk Selection under Public Health Insurance with Opt-Out

This paper studies risk selection between public and private health insurance when some, but not all, individuals can opt out of otherwise mandatory public insurance. Using a theoretical model, I show that public insurance is adversely selected when insurers and insureds are symmetrically informed about health-related risks, and that there can be adverse or advantageous selection when insureds are ...

Three essays in health economics

Expenditures for health care and health insurance have increased rapidly over the last several decades. This thesis is composed of three essays that analyze markets for health care and health insurance, respectively. Chapter 1 studies risk selection between public and private health insurance when some, but not all, individuals can opt out of otherwise mandatory public insurance. Using a theoretical ...

Accounting for inequality in the EU: Income disparities between and within member states and overall income inequality

Wealth Distribution and Individual Voting Preferences: A Comparative Perspective

The political science literature has neglected the role that economic wealth may play in shaping voting preferences during national elections, most likely because of a lack of data on wealth. This paper examines the influence of household net worth on voting preferences in the United States, with reference to Sweden and Germany. This paper employs individual-level data from the American National Election ...

L'immigration au Luxembourg, et après?

Who delays childbearing? The relationships between fertility, education and personality traits

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, this paper assesses the influence of personality traits on the timing of motherhood and investigates whether, and in what way, personality traits can explain the differences in maternity timing between more and less educated women. We estimate a log-logistic model of the time to first child birth and show that there is a statistically significant ...