Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Role of Health in Shaping the Relationship Between Income and Subjective Well-Being: A Study on German Panel Data (Bachelor Thesis)

Many may believe a higher income will make them happier. While this is true to some extent, studies show that subjective well-being (SWB) tends to increase at a decreasing rate. Included in many studies is not only the income of the individuals, but also the income of people in their surroundings, or the so-called relative income. Whereas most studies show that our SWB decreases as the income of others ...

Unbezahlte Arbeit und ihre gesellschaftliche und ökonomische Einordnung. Eine jährliche Berechnung für Deutschland von 2012 bis 2021

Wealth and Family Formation: Insights from First Cohabitation, Marriage, and Birth in Germany

Existing research has demonstrated that wealthier individuals differ in family formation. Potential explanations draw on wealth’s use and symbolic value as well as the relative economic bar of family formation. This study examines the relationship between wealth and three family formation events in Germany: first cohabitation, marriage, and birth. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002–2017) ...

When You’re Down and Out: Who Benefits from Volunteering in Old Age?

Theoretical considerations suggest that volunteering contributes to retirement adjustment because it compensates for role losses following retirement. However, the idea that mental health benefits of volunteering are stronger after retirement than prior to retirement has been hardly tested empirically. Moreover, it remains open to question who benefits from volunteering in retirement in particular. ...

With Great Prestige Comes Great Responsibility: The Role of Occupations in Shaping Employee Behavior

What compels a doctor to volunteer at a makeshift clinic in a remote village? Why do lawyers from elite firms devote hundreds of hours to pro-bono cases? These examples illuminate how occupations shape behavior beyond formal job requirements. As careers become increasingly defined by occupational rather than organizational membership, understanding the occupational forces that shape discretionary behaviors ...

Characterizing Measurement Error in the German Socio-Economic Panel Using Linked Survey and Administrative Data

This paper exploits the linkage of German administrative social security data (GER: Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien) and survey data from the socio-economic panel (GER: Sozio-ökonomisches Panel, SOEP) for the characterization of measurement error in metrics quantifying individual-specific labor earnings in Germany. We find that survey participants’ decision whether to consent to linkage is non-random ...

Migration and intergenerational stability in female employment: The impact of differences between sending and receiving countries

Objective: This article studies the intergenerational stability of employment in families of immigrants cross-nationally by investigating to what extent contextual differences between sending and receiving countries affect the transmission of labour force participation from mothers to daughters. Background: It is often argued that a low level of labour force participation among female immigrants reflects ...

Education bias in probability-based surveys in Germany: evidence and possible solutions

This paper outlines two studies on education bias in German probability-based surveys. Study 1 reviews data from 67 surveys across 19 survey programs conducted in Germany from 2000 to 2023. We found a consistent underrepresentation of individuals with a low level of formal education. We also found that the transition to self-administered modes due to rising survey costs may exacerbate this bias in ...

Impact of social isolation on mental health changes by socio-economic status: A moderated mediation analysis among non-migrant, migrant, and refugee subpopulations in Germany, 2016–2020

Background Populations experiencing precarity face heightened mental health inequities, especially during crises. In this regard, it is established that socio-economic status (SES) and social isolation are critical factors influencing mental health outcomes, which interact syndemically. Understanding their interrelated mechanisms is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to support ...

Three Essays on Fertility, Import Competition, and Meta-Analysis (Dissertation)

The current work relies on G-SOEP to study the effects of import competition on fertility choices. This phenomenon has been addressed by using a single-observation dataset following the seminal paper of Autor et al. (2014). The results show a negative and significant effect on the choice of childbearing.Moreover, the trade exposure measure has been computed by aggregating the Lander and, in a second ...