Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Boon or Bane? Others' unemployment, well-being and job insecurity

The social norm of unemployment suggests that aggregate unemployment reduces the well-being of the employed, but has a far smaller effect on the unemployed. We use German panel data to reproduce this standard result, but then suggest that the appropriate distinction may not be between employment and unemployment, but rather between higher and lower levels of labour-market security, at least for men. ...

Why Do German Firms Subsidize Apprenticeship Training? Tests of the Asymmetric Information and Mobility Cost Explanations

It is often observed that despite the famous prediction of Becker (1962) that firms will not pay for general training, German firms do in fact subsidize apprenticeship training. This paper examines two prominent solutions to this puzzle — “asymmetric information” and “mobility costs.” Our tests do not support the asymmetric information hypothesis, and, while they provide evidence consistent with a ...

Low Pay Persistence in European Countries

Using panel data for twelve European countries over the period 1994-2001 we estimate the extent of state dependence in low pay. Controlling for observable and unobservable heterogeneity as well as the endogeneity of initial conditions we find positive, statistically significant state dependence in every single country. The magnitude of this effect varies by country, however this variation is not systematically ...

Economic Status of Older German Immigrants

The income of married couples in which the husband is an immigrant aged 50 and older is compared to that of native-born Germans for the period 1995 to 1997. Immigrants are divided into households that arrived in Germany before and after 1984. Using Samples A, B, and D of the GSOEP, the income of immigrants is shown to be significantly lower than that of the native-born German population for households ...

Entry to Home-ownership in Germany: Some comparisons with the United States

Residential mobility in a constrained housing market: implications for ethnic populations in Germany

Do Immigrants Improve Their Housing Quality When They Move? Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Previous research using the German Socio-Economic Panel showed that immigrants moved slightly more frequently than native-born Germans. The research in this paper extends that work and examines the extent to which this increased mobility is translated into improved housing quality. Overall, we find that all sample households have improved their housing status over time, and that both the immigrant ...

Non-employment and the welfare state - UK and Germany compared

Summary Unemployment rates are insufficient indicators of the level of economic activity because they say little about the scale of non-employment in a given working-age population. Empirical research has started to recognize this and policy debates increasingly concentrate on working-age inactivity as a relevant gauge of the state of labour markets (OECD, 2003). However, the causes for transitions ...

Distributional and Behavioural Effects of the German Labour Market Reform

The ZEW Combined Microsimulation-CGE Model: Innovative Tool for Applied Policy Analysis

This contribution describes the linkage of microsimulation models and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models using two already established models called “STSM” and “PACE-L” used by the Centre for European Economic Research. This state of the art research method for applied policy analysis combines the advantages of both model types: On the one hand, microsimulation models allow for detailed labor ...