Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Risk factors for multimodal conservative approach failure before bariatric surgery

A multimodal conservative approach (MCA) is internationally recommended prior to bariatric surgery for the majority of patients. This research aimed to identify risk factors for therapy failure within the MCA.This study was conducted in a German bariatric obesity centre. Patients who underwent a 3- to 6-month preoperative MCA from November 2019 to October 2020 were prospectively recorded and analysed. ...

Urban Green Is More than the Absence of City: Structural and Functional Neural Basis of Urbanicity and Green Space in the Neighbourhood of Older Adults

The relationship between urbanization, the brain, and human mental health is subject to intensive debate in the current scientific literature. Particularly, since mood and anxiety disorders as well as schizophrenia are known to be more frequent in urban compared to rural regions. Here, we investigated the association between cerebral signatures, mental health and land use indicators (Urban Fabric and ...

Health implications of housing retrofits: Evidence from a population-wide weatherization program

This study provides the first population-representative quasi-experimental estimates on the impact of housing upgrades on occupant health. We analyze the exceptional period of renovations in East Germany following the German reunification during the 1990s. Triggered by one of the largest governmental loan programs in history, 3.6 million dwellings were renovated, focussing on upgrades to the building ...

Temporary employment and first births: A path analysis of the underlying mechanisms using Australian and German panel data

In many countries, temporary work is negatively associated with fertility. Yet, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. This study investigates a range of mediating pathways (subjective and objective financial situation, short tenure, and employment uncertainty) through which temporary work influences first births in two contrasting contexts: Australia and Germany. Event ...

Immigration, segregation, and attitudes toward immigrants: a longitudinal multiscalar analysis across egohoods

Evidence on how proximity to ethnic outgroups shapes attitudes toward immigration remains inconclusive. We suggest this may be driven, in part, by the fact that studies rarely account for the role of residential segregation. We argue that how the minority-share in an environment affects majority-group attitudes will depend on how segregated groups are from one another. To explore this, we undertake ...

Essays in Empirical Labour Economics (Dissertation)

The returns to school-quality-adjusted education of immigrants in Germany

This paper explores the role of school quality in immigrants’ home countries on their earnings in Germany, using native Germans as a benchmark. We propose an empirical analysis that highlights two important insights. First, there is a substantial gap in the returns to education between natives and immigrants in Germany, especially when we consider the quality of schooling in the source country where ...

Fair crack of the whip? The distribution of augmented wealth in Australia from 2002 to 2018

The omission of pension wealth potentially distorts the international comparison of wealth distributions. Private pension wealth is often included in households’ wealth portfolios, while public pension claims are not. Augmented wealth, the sum of net worth and pension wealth, resolves this limitation by including the present value of social security pension wealth. This article provides a detailed ...

How Many Brackets Should We Ask For to Derive Adequate Metric Information for Income and Wealth?

This paper investigates how the number of brackets and the choice of upper cut-offs in grouped data affect the metric approximation of income and wealth. The literature currently lacks a definition of what should be considered too few brackets or too-low cut-offs. Using German survey data, we show that more than six (eight) brackets and an upper cut-off at the 95th (97th) percentile are sufficient ...

Non-native Accents among School Beginners and Teacher Expectations for Future Student Achievements

Based on sociological, economic, and social-psychological theories of discrimination and bias, this study addresses non-native accents among ethnic minority students as they begin school and explores effects of such accents on their teachers’ achievement expectations. Using a unique data set of first graders in Germany, the analysis reveals that a non-native accent is relevant to teachers’ expectations ...