Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Different strokes for different folks: The job satisfaction of the self-employed and the intersection of gender and migration background

Purpose: Migrant enterprises comprise about 10 per cent of all enterprises in Germany and are therefore a crucial part of the German economy and its entrepreneurial ecosystems. Relatedly, migrant entrepreneurship is a highly recognized topic within political discussions as well as within entrepreneurship research. While there is already an impressive body of work regarding the nature and quality of ...

Broadband Internet, Digital Temptations, and Sleep

There is a growing concern that the widespread use of computers, mobile phones and other digital devices before bedtime disrupts our sleep with detrimental effects on our health and cognitive performance. High-speed Internet promotes the use of electronic devices, video games and Internet addiction (e.g., online games and cyberloafing). Exposure to artificial light from tablets and PCs can alterate ...

Does Broadband Internet Affect Fertility?

The spread of high-speed (broadband) Internet epitomizes the digital revolution. Using German panel data, we test whether the availability of broadband influences fertility choices in a low-fertility setting well known for the difficulty in combining work and family life. We exploit a strategy devised by Falck and colleagues to obtain causal estimates of the impact of broadband on fertility. We find ...

Entrepreneurial success and subjective well-being: Worries about the business explain one's well-being loss from self-employment

Despite lower incomes the self-employed often report higher job satisfaction. But this increased job satisfaction only sometimes translates into higher life satisfaction, likely due to the heterogeneous nature of self-employment. By distinguishing different types of self-employment, this paper sheds light onto why some self-employeds even report lower life satisfaction, focussing specifically on poor ...

Environmental concerns, volunteering and subjective well-being: Antecedents and outcomes of environmental activism in Germany

Do perceptions about the state of the environment impact on individuals' well-being and do they lead to environmental activism? While the impact of objective features of the environment (e.g., pollution, parks) is well-researched, the present paper fills a research gap by analyzing how concerns about the environment impact on subjective well-being. Based on German panel data (SOEP) for the years ...

A Privacy-Protecting Business-Analytics Service for On-Line Transactions

Analysis of consumer-related and consumer-generated data is a very important way to measure the success of on-line retailing. The software packages for data analysis have two major shortcomings: (1) solutions are not offered as a service reachable by standard procedures over the Internet, but as isolated standalone applications or ERP system modules; (2) privacy restrictions need to be integrated into ...

Remuneration of continuing vocational training and skill-building under the German and French education systems

Job Stability Trends, Layoffs and Quits - An Empirical Analysis for West Germany

Job Stability Trends, Layoffs, and Transitions to Unemployment: An Empirical Analysis for West Germany

This paper examines the evolution of different aspects of job stability, notably the termination reasons and the transition states. We estimate Semi‐Parametric Cox Hazard Models with competing risks for West Germany and find an increasing hazard of job ending that is driven by an increasing hazard of being laid off, primarily. One explanation found is that men with fixed‐term contracts face increasing ...

Female Labor Supply and Parental Leave Benefits: The Causal Effect of Paying Higher Transfers for a Shorter Period of Time

We study the labour supply effects of a major change in child-subsidy policy in Germany in 2007 designed to increase both fertility and shorten birth-related employment interruptions. The reform involved a move from a means-tested maternity leave benefit system that paid a maximum of 300 Euro for up to 2 years to a benefit system that replaced two-thirds of pre-birth earnings for at most 1 year. As ...