Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Authentic Happiness Theory Supported by Impact of Religion on Life Satisfaction - A Longitudinal Analysis with Data for Germany

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey, this paper assesses the relationship between life satisfaction and religious practice. It is shown that individuals who become more religious over time record long term gains in life satisfaction, while those who become less religious record long term losses. This result holds net of the effects of personality traits, and also in fixed effects ...

Alternative Values-Based 'Recipes' for Life Satisfaction: German Results with an Australian Replication

In most research on Life Satisfaction (LS), it is assumed that the covariates of high and low LS are the same for everyone, or at least everyone in the West. In this paper, analysing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, with a limited replication based on Australian panel data, we estimate models of alternative 'recipes' for LS. There appear to be at least four distinct 'recipes', ...

One Size Does Not Fit All: Alternative Values-Based ‘Recipes’ for Life Satisfaction

In most previous research on the determinants of Life Satisfaction (LS), there has been an implicit assumption that ‘one size fits all’. That is, it has usually been assumed that the covariates of LS are the same for everyone, or at least everyone in the Western world. In this paper, using data from the long-running German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-), we estimate statistical models to assess the effects ...

The Importance of Wealth for Subjective Well-Being

It is widely assumed that since income is usually found to account for a relatively small proportion of the variance across individuals in self-reported well-being, money does not matter for personal happiness. This hypothesis is reexamined in this paper by including measures of household wealth alongside the more usual household income measure in regression equations of life satisfaction. Using data ...

Happiness and Longevity: Unhappy People Die Young, Otherwise Happiness Probably Makes No Difference

Based on analysis of long-running panel surveys in Germany and Australia, we offer a revised assessment of the relationship between subjective well-being (happiness, life satisfaction) and longevity. Most previous research has reported a linear positive relationship; the happier people are, the longer they live (Diener and Chan in Appl Psychol Health Well-Being 3:1–43, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x). ...

A Metadata-Driven Approach to Panel Data Management and its Application in DDI on Rails

This dissertation designs a metadata-driven infrastructure for panel data that aims to increase both the quality and the usability of the resulting research data. Data quality determines whether the data appropriately represent a particular aspect of our reality. Usability originates notably from a conceivable documentation, accessibility of the data, and interoperability with tools and other data ...

Integrating Personality Psychology into Economics

This paper reviews the problems and potential benefits of integrating personality psychology into economics. Economists have much to learn from and contribute to personality psychology.

Hard Evidence on Soft Skills

This paper summarizes recent evidence on what achievement tests measure; how achievement tests relate to other measures of “cognitive ability” like IQ and grades; the important skills that achievement tests miss or mismeasure, and how much these skills matter in life. Achievement tests miss, or perhaps more accurately, do not adequately capture, soft skills – personality traits, goals, motivations, ...

Efficiency and distribution effects of a revenue-neutral income tax reform

Are economic conditions related to nonnormative life satisfaction development? Evaluating the relative impact of economic conditions, personality, and subjective health

This study examined the relative contribution of psychological and socioeconomic resources to explaining qualitative individual differences in life satisfaction development. We used growth mixture modeling and a cohort-sequential design to investigate life satisfaction development from age 25 to 65, in a nationally representative panel (the SOEP). Eighty-three percent of the participants experienced ...