Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Methodological Effects of Factorial Surveys in Population Samples

The factorial survey is a method of attitude research that combines the advantages of survey research and experimental designs. Respondents react to hypothetical descriptions (vignettes) instead of answering single-item questions. By varying the values of each attribute (dimension) systematically the impact of each dimension on respondents' judgments can be estimated. As the descriptions are based ...

Method Effects in Factorial Surveys: An Analysis of Respondents' Comments, Interviewers' Assessments, and Response Behavior

This paper describes the implementation of a factorial survey within the SOEP-Pretest of 2008 and investigates (1) respondents' comments about the vignettes, (2) interviewers' assessments of respondents comprehension and willingness to answer, and (3) response behavior regarding response time, use of the answering scale, and consistency of evaluations by different age groups and educational ...

Less is Sometimes More: Consequences of Overpayment on Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism

This article investigates the responsive and purposive consequences of overpayment by studying changes in job satisfaction and absenteeism over time. Overpayment is defined as the positive deviation from the net earnings subjectively considered being fair. Two theoretical approaches are tested providing differing predictions: The self-interest model predicts that any increase in earnings always increases ...

The Impact of Within and Between Occupational Inequalities on People’s Justice Perceptions Towards their Own Earnings

This paper investigates justice perceptions of employees towards their own earnings. Earnings are decomposed into three components: (1) In returns based on human capital endowments, (2) in returns based on individual residual differences and (3) in returns based on differences between occupations. The legitimacy of these earnings components is measured via the justice assessments of employees. Based ...

Do temporary workers finance their training? Empirical evidence from Germany

Who invests in training if contracts are temporary? Empirical evidence for Germany using selection correction

This study deals with the effect of fixed-term contracts on work-related training. Though previous studies found a negative effect of fixed-term contracts on the participation in training, from the theoretical point of view it is not clear whether workers with fixed-term contracts receive less or more training, compared to workers with permanent contracts. In addition to the existing strand of literature, ...

Beware the Mean!

Bequest Motives and the Demand for Life Insurance in East Germany

Empirical studies of household saving remain inconclusive about the role of bequest motives. This may be due to the diluting effect of different tax regimes across countries and time on estimates of bequest motives. Relative to market-based economies, the former German Democratic Republic can be viewed as an experimental institutional setting where life-insurance demand was not influenced by tax considerations. ...

Social networks as a catalyst of economic change

This letter finds that East Germans with strong social ties invested earlier in a popular new financial product after reunification, while long-term ownership remained unaffected. Hence, studies of the economic impact of social networks should distinguish transitory from long-run effects.

Tax incentives, bequest motives and the demand for life insurance: evidence from a natural experiment in Germany

This paper studies the role of taxation and bequest motives in households’ demand for life insurance. We develop a stylized three-period life cycle model of life insurance demand and test its predictions regarding tax changes and bequests motives. An unexpected halving of the tax exemption limit for interest and dividend income in Germany allows us to identify the impact of changes in taxation on the ...