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How Causal Is Separation? Lessons Learnt from Endogenous Switching Regression Models for Single Mothers’ Economic Strain in Germany

Single mothers often experience precarious financial conditions. However, it is not fully understood to what extent separation is the cause of these conditions versus being their consequence. Estimating an endogenous switching regression model based on a sample of 626 separated and 5,525 non-separated mothers drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) 1984-2018, we disentangle the roles of causation ...

Buying Control? 'Locus of Control' and the Uptake of Supplementary Health Insurance

This paper analyses the relationship between locus of control (LOC) and the demand for supplementary health insurance. Drawing on longitudinal data from Germany, we find robust evidence that individuals having an internal LOC are more likely to take up supplementary private health insurance (SUPP). The increase in the probability to have a SUPP due to one standard deviation increase in the measure ...

Buying control? ‘Locus of control’ and the uptake of supplementary health insurance

This paper examines the relationship between locus of control (LOC) and the demand for supplementary health insurance (SUPP). Drawing on longitudinal data from Germany, we document robust evidence that individuals internal LOC increases the take up of supplementary private health insurance (SUPP). We find that the effect of one standard deviation increase in the measure of internal LOC on the probability ...

Monopsony in the labor market: the employment effects of the german minimum wage reform

In 2015, Germany introduced a statutory hourly minimum wage that was not only universally binding but also set at a relatively high level. By focusing on the short-run effects of the German Minimum Wage Reform, I estimate its impact on employment. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I exploit variation in the regional treatment intensity, assuming that the stronger a minimum wage ‘bites’ into ...

Television, Health, and Happiness: A Natural Experiment in West Germany

Watching television is the most time-consuming human activity besides work but its role for individual well-being is unclear. Negative consequences portrayed in the literature raise the question whether this popular pastime constitutes an economic good or bad, and hence serves as a prime example of irrational behavior reducing individual health and happiness. Using rich panel data, we are the first ...

Sophistication about Self-Control

We propose a broadly applicable empirical approach to classify individuals as time-consistent versus native or sophisticated regarding their self-control limitations. Operationalizing our approach based on nationally representative data reveals that self-control problems are pervasive and that most people are at least partly aware of their limited self-control. Compared to naifs, sophisticates have ...

Gender and Gambling Preference

Gambling preferences are analysed using survey data from the wider population. Respondents were confronted with a hypothetical lottery question, in which they were asked to imagine having just won a large prize, and asked how much of this prize they would be willing to invest in a further gamble. We observe the majority of respondents avoiding the gamble altogether. We demonstrate that such behaviour ...

Women in the German labor market: The cost of being a mother

Initial findings regarding the coronavirus crisis’ impact on the German labor market suggest that the existing dynamics of inequality will worsen in two respects – both between the sexes, and within the group of women alone. One thing is certain: Mothers in particular will lose out, as the following analysis shows that even before the crisis, children already cost mothers up to two-thirds of their ...

SOEP-IS 2019 – PGEN: Person-related Status and Generated Variables

SOEP-IS 2019 – PHRF: Weights for Persons