Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Early Unemployment and Subsequent Career Complexity: A Sequence-Based Perspective

We aim to examine how previous unemployment affects future unemployment and career complexity over the life course. Theory suggests that unemployment triggers negative chains of ‘low-pay-no-pay’ circles. Using longitudinal data on men aged 18-64 from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we employ sequence-based methods to quantify career complexity and dynamic panel models to test our hypotheses about ...

The effect of unemployment on the mental health of spouses – Evidence from plant closures in Germany

Studies on health effects of unemployment usually neglect spillover effects on spouses. This study specifically investigates the effect of an individual's unemployment on the mental health of their spouse. In order to allow for causal interpretation of the estimates, it focuses on plant closure as entry into unemployment, and combines difference-in-difference and matching based on entropy balancing ...

Four Essays on Causal Inference in Health Economics (Dissertation)

Does job loss make you smoke and gain weight?

This paper estimates the effect of involuntary job loss on smoking behaviour and body weight using German SOEP data. Baseline non-smokers are more likely to start smoking due to job loss, while smokers do not intensify smoking. In particular, single individuals and those with lower health or socioeconomic status prior to job loss exhibit high rates of smoking initiation. Job loss increases body weight ...

Maternal labour supply and all-day primary schools in Germany

The economic literature provides vast evidence of how public provision of day care for children below school age increases the labour force participation of mothers. The causal effect of all-day schooling in primary school on maternal supply has been examined less since morning-only schooling is less common in developed countries. The present article summarises the findings of (mostly) economic studies ...

Weighting adjustments in the presence of non-coverage due to residential mobility in the German Microcensus-Panel

A Longitudinal Study of Interethnic Contacts in Germany: Estimates from a Multilevel Growth Curve Model

Interethnic ties are considered important for the cohesion in society. Previous research has studied the determinants of interethnic ties with cross-sectional data or lagged panel designs. This study improves on prior research by applying multilevel growth curve modelling techniques with lagged independent variables, which provide better estimates of causal relationships than methods previously applied. ...

Does Limited Access to Mortgage Debt Explain Why Young Adults Live with Their Parents?

Does education reduce wage inequality? Quantile regression evidence from 16 countries

The Welfare State and Anti-Poverty Policy in Rich Countries

This paper is prepared as a chapter for the Handbook of Income Distribution, Volume 2 (edited by A. B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon, Elsevier-North Holland, forthcoming). Like the other chapters in the volume (and its predecessor), the aim is to provide a comprehensive review of a particular area of research. The aim of this chapter is to highlight some key aspects of recent economic research on the ...