Dear Colleagues,
as summer is reaching its peak here in Berlin, this latest SOEPnewsletter goes out to you with news from DIW Berlin and announcements of upcoming SOEP events and conference activities.
For example, SOEP is represented by more than ten researchers at the 10th European Survey Research Association (ESRA) Conference in Milan this week (July 17-21) - more information on the sessions and presentations can be found here (PDF, 276.15 KB). If you are there as well, please feel free to drop by!
Best regards,
Your SOEP Knowledge Transfer team
SOEP Core Data Release (v38, data 1984 - 2021)
All registered data users can now order the current data via our online order form.
In German: https://www.diw.de/SOEPbestellung
In English: https://www.diw.de/SOEPorder
Due to a change of the survey institute, there was a delay in the data transfer this year. Unfortunately, we still could not include all information in this data delivery. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Key information for v38:
All other new features and changes can be found as a supplied "WhatsNew" document in the data package or in the Changes to the data set section of the current SOEP Core page.
2021 SOEP IS Data Release
In May, the 2021 SOEP Innovation Sample data were released. Since there was a break in data collection for the innovation sample in 2021, this data release contains only the data from previous years’ innovation modules that were under embargo until now. It includes the following modules:
The data can be obtained from the SOEP data archive.
These and other SOEP-IS modules are now described in more detail in the SOEP-IS Companion. The SOEP-IS Companion contains not only short descriptions of the various modules but also information such as variable names, survey years, numbers of respondents, and publications using the respective module.
New dataset: SOEP-CMI-ADIAB—Linking administrative data from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) with the SOEP
The SOEP-CMI-ADIAB data are made available by the SOEP together with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The dataset links SOEP interview data with information about SOEP respondents from the IAB administrative data. The linkage is only undertaken if respondents provided explicit consent and if they could be identified in the IAB data. The SOEP-CMI-ADIAB dataset includes data from SOEP-Core and the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample, the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees up to and including wave 37 (SOEPv37.eu, which includes the 2020 survey year), and the SOEP Innovation Sample (including the 2020 survey). The SOEP-CMI-ADIAB data allow for analysis of research questions requiring the diverse sociodemographic information provided by the SOEP as well as the very precise life-course income data provided by the IAB.
Description of the dataset
Detailed information on SOEP-CMI-ADIAB is provided in FDZ Data Report 03/2023, which is available in both German and English:
For further information, especially on data access, see:
SOEP Survey Committee meeting on June 19, 2023
The SOEP Survey Committee (SOEP-SC) advises the SOEP on survey development and service provision. The regular annual meeting of the SOEP-SC took place in Berlin on June 19. Members of the SOEP staff gave presentations covering plans for sample refreshers in the coming year, new survey topics, and new survey modes in 2024. Prof. Dr. Jutta Mata from the University of Mannheim was elected as the new Chair of the Survey Committee. We would like to thank the outgoing Chair, Prof. Dr. Monika Jungbauer-Gans from the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), the previous chair of the SOEP-SC, for her ongoing commitment, active support, and valuable advice to our study, which have further advanced the work of the SOEP.
SOEPcampus: Learn to use SOEP over lunch in August
In August, the SOEP will be holding another online workshop “Learn to use SOEP over lunch” with Sandra Bohmann, offering a brief introduction to the SOEP data. The workshop will take place four times in the next month—from 12 to 1:30 pm on August 2, 9, 16, and 23. The workshop offers an introduction to the SOEP’s survey topics, analytical potentials, data structure, sample selection, and weighting strategy, and an overview of available documentation.
To register and receive access codes, please contact Janina Britzke with your name and institutional affiliation. The workshop is free of charge and will be in English. Further information can be found here.
SOEP at the 10th ESRA Conference in Milan
The tenth European Survey Research Association (ESRA) Conference will take place in Milan from July 17 to 21. Twelve researchers from the SOEP will be in attendance, leading sessions and giving over 20 conference presentations. An overview of the SOEP presentations at the ESRA conference can be found here (PDF, 276.15 KB).
Keynote by Charlotte Bartels at the annual VfS conference
Charlotte Bartels will be giving one of the three keynote speeches at this year’s annual conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik (VfS) 2023. She will be giving her keynote on “150 years of discourse on inequality and growth” on September 25, 2023. The conference will be taking place at the University of Regensburg from September 24 to 27, 2023. There will be a SOEP information booth at the conference.
CfP: 15th International German Socio-Economic Panel User Conference 2024
The 15th International German Socio-Economic Panel User Conference (SOEP2024) will be held in Berlin on July 4-5, 2024 at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW).
The conference provides researchers who use the SOEP with the opportunity to present and discuss their work with their peers. Researchers of all disciplines are invited to submit an abstract.
The theme of the conference and keynote speeches will be "the individual and collective responses to a changing world". We particularly welcome contributions examining this theme, but we also encourage submissions outside of this thematic focus, in particular submissions using the longitudinal features of SOEP as well as papers on survey methodology and cross-national comparative analysis.
Keynote Speakters are:
Simon Jäger | CEO of IZA and Associate Professor of Economics at MIT / Germany and USA
Jutta Mata | University of Mannheim / Germany
Please submit electronic versions of abstracts (up to 300 words) no later than February 5, 2024. Submitters will be notified by March 4, 2024, on whether their paper has been accepted. For more information on the conference please refer to here.
2022 SOEP Annual Report published
Spanning around 100 pages, the latest SOEP Annual Report provides a compact overview of the SOEP’s activities in the last year. It presents new projects launched in 2022, researchers working on and with the SOEP, the services we offer, and reports on data preparation by the SOEP and the fieldwork conducted by infas. In addition, the annual report devotes several special pages to the research topics of migration and integration as well as mental health, and presents initial findings from the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees from Ukraine in Germany, which was launched last year following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The SOEP Annual Report is available online (PDF, 5.04 MB), and the print version can also be ordered from us.
The wellbeing of family caregivers in Germany changed during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
In a recently published article in the European Journal of Ageing, Sabine Zinn and colleagues report that family caregivers showed a simultaneous increase in both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction between 2019 and spring 2020. The researchers used SOEP-Core data and SOEP-CoV study data, which they analyzed using first-difference regression models, differentiating by care intensity and duration of the care episode.
Möhring, K. / Zinn, S. / Ehrlich, U. (2023). Family care during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany: longitudinal evidence on consequences for the well-being of caregivers. European Journal of Ageing 20, 15 (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s10433-023-00761-2.
Adjustments to working hours play an important role in the distributional effects of minimum wages
Carsten Schröder and colleagues published an article in Empirical Economics quantifying the distributional effects of the minimum wage introduced in Germany in 2015, using detailed survey data from the SOEP to assess changes in hourly wages, working hours, and monthly wages of employees who are entitled to be paid the minimum wage. Conducting a difference-in-differences analysis and exploiting regional variation in the “bite” of the minimum wage, they found that at the lower end of the hourly wage distribution, wages grew by 9% in the short term and by 21% in the medium term. At the same time, they found a reduction in working hours, such that the increase in hourly wages did not lead to disproportionately low growth in monthly wages.
Caliendo, M. / Fedorets, A. / Preuss, M. / Schröder, C. / Wittbrodt, L. (2023). The short- and medium-term distributional effects of the German minimum wage reform. Empirical Economics 64, 2023, 1149-1175. DOI: 10.1007/s00181-022-02288-4.
People across Europe have similar income fairness perceptions, regarding both their own income and the top and bottom incomes in their country
In a recently published article in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, Sandra Bohmann and Fabian Kalleitner used data from the European Social Survey on 17,605 respondents in 28 countries to analyze the relationship between real income inequality and people’s evaluations of income fairness at the top and bottom of the income distribution as well as their own position in the income distribution. Their findings show broad social consensus regarding the degree of unfairness of top and bottom incomes, with the degree of perceived injustice reflecting the actual degree of income inequality.
Kalleitner, F. / Bohmann, S. (2023). The Inequity Z: Income Fairness Perceptions in Europe across the Income Distribution. Socius (2023), 9, pp. 1-3. DOI: 10.1177/2378023123116713.
On-site pharmacies impact antibiotic prescribing rates
To promote health care access in remote regions, some countries allow doctors to directly dispense prescribed drugs through on-site pharmacies. This can, depending on the medication, pose financial incentives for doctors to over-prescribe. Barbara Stacherl and coauthors examined the effects of on-site pharmacies on antibiotic prescribing rates (prescriptions per 1,000 patient contacts) in an empirical analysis based on billing data for all antibiotic prescriptions issued by Austrian national health service doctors from 2016 to 2019. Published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, their findings show that GPs without an on-site pharmacy had a 9.2% lower antibiotic dispensing rates.
Stacherl, B. / Renner, A.-T. / Weber, D. (2023). Financial Incentives and Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns: Evidence from Dispensing Physicians in a Public Healthcare System. Social Science & Medicine 321 (2023), 115791, 8 pp. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115791.
Presentation of initial findings from the project “Trends and Drivers of Wealth Accumulation”
Charlotte Bartels and Viola Hilbert presented the concept of their research project “Wealth Accumulation in Germany: Current Trends and Drivers” and initial findings on May 22 at the First Symposium on the German Federal Government's Seventh Poverty and Wealth Report at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. In this project, Bartels and Hilbert are working with Carsten Schröder to analyze wealth development in the German population between 2002 and 2017 as well as the relative importance of asset prices (e.g., real estate prices) in wealth accumulation, with a focus on factors relevant in intragenerational wealth mobility. They are also using machine learning to investigate the drivers of wealth accumulation. The project team is currently developing a website to depict the regional development of income and real estate prices, both from an overarching perspective and in detail.
SOEP at the Long Night of the Sciences
Markus M. Grabka and Sandra Bohmann each held a lecture at the Long Night of the Sciences in Berlin on June 17, 2023:
RatSWD: New standard questionnaire
The RatSWD (+KonsortSWD) has published its new standard questionnaire for socio-demographic and crisis-related variables with many items from SOEP-CORE, SOEP-CoV, and the SOEP-FGZ Cohesion Panel:
RatSWD (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten) (2023). Standardfragenkatalog zur Erhebung soziodemographischer und krisenbezogener Variablen. RatSWD Output Series, 7. Berufungsperiode Nr. 4b, Berlin. DOI: 10.17620/02671.76
Interim professorship at LMU Munich
Charlotte Bartels will hold an interim W3 professorship in comparative economics in the Faculty of Economics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) from October 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024. She will be filling in for Prof. Dr. Dr. H.c. Monika Schnitzer, who is currently serving as Chair of the German Council of Economic Experts. She will teach microeconomic theory in the master’s program in economics. In her seminar on wealth and taxation, students will critically discuss existing theoretical and empirical literature and analyze questions of wealth distribution and accumulation using SOEP data.
Appointment to the Junge Akademie
Charlotte Bartels was also appointed to the Junge Akademie at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The Junge Akademie aims at fostering scientific discourse and interdisciplinary collaboration, carrying out projects of major scientific importance, and promoting initiatives at the interface of science and society. It is limited to 50 members who serve for five-year terms. She was appointed at the members’ summer plenum at the BBAW on June 23.
Appointment to the German Data Forum
Jan Goebel was appointed to the German Data Forum (RatSWD) for its eighth appointment period beginning July 1, 2023. He will serve for a period of three years. The German Data Forum makes an important contribution to developing and promoting the use of existing data sources and building synergies between researchers and data producers. For the strategic further development of research data infrastructure, it brings together perspectives, articulates needs, proposes solutions, and provides advice to policymakers.
Appointment as IZA Research Affiliate
Daniel Graeber was appointed Research Affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). IZA invites young scholars from all over the world once a year to contribute to the activities of the IZA network as Research Affiliates and to advance to Research Fellows over time. Currently, IZA has around 300 Affiliates.
Appointment to the Center for Panel Survey Sciences
Carina Cornesse has been appointed to the Expert Advisory Board of the newly established Center for Panel Survey Sciences at the NORC Institute at the University of Chicago. The Center researches and develops best practices in probability-based panel surveys, and is committed to innovation and inclusivity in panel data collection with respect to under-researched populations.
Appointment to the new UK collaboration Survey Futures
Carina Cornesse was also appointed to the international advisory board of the newly established UK Survey Data Collection Methods Collaboration on the topic of Survey Futures. She will be contributing her research expertise in research strand 1, “Enhanced Sampling Frames and Procedures”. The collaboration is funded (to the tune of 3.3 million British pounds) by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and aims to promote the highest quality standards and outstanding innovation in data collection in the UK.
Angelina Hammon, SOEP research assistant, defended her dissertation entitled “Analysis of survey data in the presence of non-ignorable missing data and selection mechanisms” (supervised by Sabine Zinn) at DIW Berlin on May 15, 2023, and was awarded the highest distinction. Congratulations to Angelina!
Matteo Targa, former SOEP research associate, defended his dissertation on “Empirical Essays on Inequality” (supervised by Carsten Schröder) at Freie Universität Berlin on May 15. Congratulations and all the best to Matteo for his new postdoctoral position at Università Roma Tre!
Michael Krämer, former SOEP research associate, defended his dissertation entitled “Social Relationships, Personality, and Subjective Well-Being: Investigating Social Processes across Different Methods and Temporal Resolutions” (supervised by David Richter) at Freie Universität Berlin on June 22. He was awarded the grade summa cum laude. Congratulations and all the best to Michael for his new postdoctoral position at the University of Zurich!
ARP Diversity Travel Award
Emilija Meier-Faust received a Diversity Travel Award from the Association for Research in Personality (ARP) to support her participation in this year’s ARP conference in Illinois (July 20-22). Her research focuses on socioeconomically diverse contexts and their potential impacts on psychological outcomes, thus increasing the visibility of diversity in psychological research.
Li Yang and Tamara Böhm left SOEP on April 30: Li Yang went to the Department of Inequality and Distribution Policy at ZEW, and Tamara Böhm to Freie Universität Berlin.
Michael Krämer left the SOEP on June 30 to start work as a postdoc at the University of Zurich.
We wish them all the best and continued career success!
Daniela Centemero joined SOEP as research manager at the beginning of April, filling in for Simon Kleineweber during his absence. She also works in DIW Berlin Graduate Center.
Gedeão Locks, Ph.D., started his postdoctoral position in the DFG-ANR project EQUITAX, led by Charlotte Bartels, on June 1.
Dr. Louise Biddle joined the SOEP on June 15 as a research associate in the SUARE project.
Dr. Elena Sommer joined the SOEP on July 1 as a survey manager in the SUARE project.
Also on July 1, Julian Axenfeld joined SOEP-FGZ Cohesion Panel project as a research associate, and Andrea Marchitto joined the SOEP team.
SOEP Data Project Wins KSWD Poster Award
On March 27 as part of the 9th Conference on Social and Economic Data by KonsortSWD, the Consortium for the Social, Behavioural, Educational and Economic Sciences in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), young researchers presented research posters at the dbb forum in Berlin. Stella Martin and Kevin Stabenow from the University of Münster won the KSWD Poster Award for the SOEP data project “Measurement Error in Earnings”.
SASE-SER Best Article Prize 2023 goes to publication using SOEP data
The Socio-Economic Review (SER) Best Article Prize of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) was awarded this year to an article based on SOEP data. The committee decision text reads: “We found the pool of articles to be of very high quality, but converged upon Sprengholz, Wieber, and Holst, ‘Gender identity and wives’ labor market outcomes in West and East Germany between 1983 and 2016,’ as an outstanding article. The article was a study of the interplay between social norms and institutions over time. The topic was extremely intriguing, the methods used were innovative and rigorous, and the implications of the research were extremely relevant. Thus, it advanced research on three fronts simultaneously: substantively, theoretically, and methodologically (...).” Elke Holst was part of the SOEP team for many years and edited the SOEPnewsletter until 2014, when she took over the Gender Economics Research Group at DIW.
GESIS Summer School 2023
The GESIS Summer School 2023 will take place from 02 to 25 August. Some courses will be held onsite in Cologne and some online. Join lecturers and participants from all over the world and from many different fields by meeting in person or online and take part in Europe's leading summer school in survey methodology, research design, and data collection. There is no registration deadline, but places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. You will find the full program, detailed course descriptions, and more information here.
Call for Papers: Fifth DZHW + IAB Forum “Higher Education and the Labor Market”
The German Center for Higher Education and Science Research (DZHW) and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) are jointly organizing “Higher Education and the Labor Market” (HELM) for the fifth time, with the central theme “Combining Academic Training and Practical Work Experience in Tertiary Education.” The conference will take place on October 12 and 13, 2023, at the Federal Employment Agency in Nuremberg. The conference language is English. The extended deadline for abstract submissions is July 23, 2023. The full call for papers can be found here.
Call for Applications: 11th Rhine-Ruhr PhD Workshop
The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Foundation, and the Institute of Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute for Work and Qualification (IAQ), both at the University of Duisburg-Essen, are organizing the 11th annual Rhine-Ruhr PhD Workshop in 2024. The workshop is for PhD students across Germany who are writing their dissertations on topics of work, the labor market, labor policy, education, inequality, the welfare state, and social policy. The next PhD workshop will be March 7 and 8, 2024. The deadline for applications is October 31, 2023. The full call for papers (in German) can be found here.