Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Heterogeneity in gender differences in self-reported political preferences, trust, and well-being across 39 European countries

Previous research suggests that women tend to self-report higher life satisfaction and happiness, lower health status and trust, and more left-leaning political preferences than men. We revisit the gender gap in these outcome variables using random-effects meta-analysis, aggregating data across 39 countries surveyed in the European Social Survey (n ≈ 500,000). Measured in Cohen’s d units, women, on ...

A Bounding Approach to Age–Period–Cohort Analysis: A Demonstration Using Public Crime Concerns in Germany

In this paper, we present an application of a bounding approach to age–period–cohort (APC) analysis, recently developed by Fosse and Winship (2019), offering a transparent and assumption-aware alternative to commonly used identification strategies. Specifically, we apply the method to evaluate long-term trends in public concern about crime in Germany, addressing whether observed changes reflect genuine ...

Wrong Fit, Missed Gains? Evidence from Skill Training Choices in Liberia

Young job seekers commonly misperceive training returns; we test whether these beliefs misalign choices between two widely offered tracks—job-skills and business-skills training for young women in Liberia. We reassign 30 percent of the applicants from an oversubscribed job-skills program to business-skills and compare them to applicants who remain in their preferred track. In the short run, reassigned ...

Family structures, childcare and school attendance

From parenthood to planet care? The evolution of environmental and climate concerns during family formation

We examine the effect of childbirth on parents’ environmental and climate concerns, focusing on potentially dynamic changes in concerns within a time span of 2 years before and up to 10 years after birth. Additionally, we explore the effect of heterogeneities by gender and educational attainment. Using long-running survey data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (GSOEP, 1984–2020, N = 108,340) ...

Personality differences and investment decision-making

We survey thousands of affluent American investors to examine the relationship between personalities and investment decisions. The Big Five personality traits correlate with investors' beliefs about the stock market and economy, risk preferences, and social interaction tendencies. Two personality traits, Neuroticism and Openness, stand out in their explanatory power for equity investments. Investors ...

The persuasiveness of different sources of information on the decision to vaccinate. A cross-sectional study in Germany during the pandemic at the turn of the year 2021/2022

Health information about vaccinations is communicated via various sources of information and is crucial for vaccination decisions. Information sources such as interpersonal sources, traditional print and digital media as well as social media offer information about the risks and benefits of vaccination. During health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic was, some information sources provide hanging ...

Improving Contact Tracing by Prioritizing Influential Spreaders Identified Through Socio-Demographic Characteristics

To mitigate the spread of contagious diseases, there is an ongoing discussion surrounding interventions that strategically target individuals who, due to their social network position, are responsible for more infections than others. However, the practical identification of these individuals using conventional network metrics is considerably challenging due to the lack of required data. A potential ...

Intra-couple gaps in retirees’ financial resources: their extent and predictors across Eastern and Western Germany

Intra-couple disparities in economic resources are often downplayed, yet they substantially affect power dynamics, marital satisfaction, and financial well-being during the marriage and have lasting economic consequences in the event of separation. With the growing privatization of old-age security amidst population aging and welfare cuts, understanding economic intra-couple disparities among retired ...

Trajectories of health-related quality of life across age cohorts: A longitudinal analysis of the German population over 16 years

Background Understanding the trajectories of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) across different age cohorts and sociodemographic factors is crucial for promoting healthy aging. This study aims to examine the course of physical and mental HRQoL over a 16-year period in a nationwide sample of the German population. Methods Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel spanning from 2002 to 2018 (N = 4111; ...