SOEPnewsletter November 2024

Data release: SOEP-Core Data 1984-2022 (v39) available

Since October, all registered data users can order the latest data via our online order form.
In German: http://www.diw.de/SOEPbestellung
In English: http://www.diw.de/SOEPorder

Important news for v39:

• New samples: With the refreshment sample R and the migration sample M8b, two new samples were added to the SOEP data.
• Currently, there is only a preliminary weighting, as the marginal distributions for 2022 were unfortunately not yet available due to delays in the processes with the Federal Statistical Office. We plan to provide the updated weights with v39.1.
• With SELFEMPL and CHILDL (formerly BIOAGEL) there are two new data sets.

Further details on current data delivery can be found as a supplied "WhatsNew" document in the data package or in the changes in the dataset section of the current SOEP Core page.

Data Release: The updated Scientific Use File of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey “Refugees from Ukraine in Germany” is available

Since November, all registered data users can order the latest data via our online order form.
In German: http://www.diw.de/SOEPbestellung
In English: http://www.diw.de/SOEPorder

The new data version now contains four data sets – important news are:

• The person dataset, which comprises the data from the individual interviews, has not changed in version 1, nor has the duration dataset.
• In the instrumentation dataset, the values for one variable have been corrected (end_language).
• Version 1 is the first release of the pbrutto dataset, which supplements the data with information on the survey procedure and respondent participation, for example, as well as weighting factors for the households and individuals in the survey.

For further dataset information, please click here.

The IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey "Refugees from Ukraine in Germany" examines diverse aspects of Ukrainian refugees’ lives—the circumstances surrounding their departure from Ukraine, comprehensive socio-demographic characteristics, alongside information on housing, school, vocational and university degrees, employment, German language skills, life satisfaction and worries, family constellations before and after leaving Ukraine, childcare, existing social networks, and needs for counseling and support. An additional focus is on Ukrainian refugees’ plans for the future—whether they intend to reunite with family in Germany or return to Ukraine.

The study was established by four partner organizations: the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), the Family Research and Demographic Analysis (FReDA) project, the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin. It builds on the “IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees,” which has been running since 2016, and the Family Research and Demographic Analysis (FReDA) project.

Call for Submissions: SOEP-IS

The SOEP Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS) is designed to enable innovative data collection for the research community. It is particularly well suited to establishing new and target-group-specific measurement instruments in long-term surveys, to conducting short- and long-term experiments, and to collecting non-survey data (such as biomarkers).

Researchers who are interested in submitting a proposal for data collection in 2026 should keep the following deadlines in mind: The call for submissions is currently open and if you would like to submit a proposal, you should send an informal expression of interest to soep-is@diw.de by March 31, 2025. If a project is determined to be feasible from a survey methodology perspective, the official submission procedure will follow. The template for proposals must be completed and submitted by April 30, 2025. Data will be collected starting in 2026. More information can be found here.

Important changes regarding the data access: SOEP-G

The procedure for accessing the SOEP-G data has changed! Moving forward, interested researchers will need to submit a research plan, a data protection concept (PDF, 18.83 KB) and proof of a positive vote from an ethics committee to soepmail@diw.de (cc'ing soep-is@diw.de) with the subject line "Polygenetic scores". After a positive internal review of all documents, approved users will receive access to the SOEP-G dataset via remote access or direct access at SOEP. Researchers interested in testing their code in advance may request a synthetic dataset from soep-is@diw.de.

Data release: DIPS3 data available soon (Preview)

For the first time, smartphone sensing has been integrated in the SOEP-IS! For a subset of SOEP-IS respondents in wave 2022, the DIPS3 data now contains daily diary assessments and passive smartphone sensing of behavioral indicators related to social contact. These respondents agreed to take part in an additional app-based study for 14 days. They were instructed to answer one short questionnaire each evening about their mood, social contact, and social desire. At the same time, smartphone sensing provided almost continuous information about calls, text messages, app usage, conversations, and phone status. Due to privacy protection, the raw data cannot be shared as part of the release, but we provide aggregated and cleaned data of the relevant variables. Importantly, the DIPS3 data can be matched with the regular SOEP-IS data to derive information about respondents’ socio-economic background, personality, and social network. The data is planned to be published in January – further information will follow early in 2025.

New Fritz Thyssen Foundation project: Wealthy, Wealthier, Wealthiest – The Role of Inheritances and Parental Background for the Structure of the Wealth Distribution and Top Wealth

clear

How does wealth accumulate and reproduce in the German population (especially) at the top end of the wealth distribution? The new and globally unique SOEP special sample of High Wealth Individuals in Germany (SOEP-P) used in this project under the direction of Carsten Schröder and Martin Biewen (IAW) comprises over 1,100 net euro millionaires (with the richest person having more than 130 million euros) and is fully integrated into the SOEP main sample of German households (SOEP-Core). Thus, for the first time, it is now possible to carry out comparable analyses of high-net-worth individuals and the rest of the population. Further information on this project and its four work packages can be found here (only in German).

15th International SOEP User Conference

The 15th International German Socio-Economic Panel User Conference (SOEP2024) this year was held at BBAW in Berlin from July 4 to July 5, 2024.

The conference provided researchers who use the SOEP (including the SOEP part of the Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF) and LIS/LWS data) with the opportunity to present and discuss their work with their peers. Researchers of all disciplines (e.g., economics, demography, geography, political science, public health, psychology, and sociology) were invited and around 100 people attended the two-day event. The theme of the conference and keynote speeches concentrated on "the individual and collective responses to a changing world." Of the approximately 80 submissions by conference participants from ten different countries, 64 submissions were accepted for presentation by the scientific committee for the SOEP conference.

We congratulate Denis Gerstorf for being awarded the Felix Büchel Award.

For more details on the conference, including photos, please see the conference website.

Prize ceremony for Büchel Award. From left: Carsten Schröder, Denis Gerstorf, Stefanie Salata, C. Katharina Spieß
© Bernhard Ludewig

clear

Prize ceremony for Büchel Award. From left: Carsten Schröder, Denis Gerstorf, Stefanie Salata, C. Katharina Spieß
© Bernhard Ludewig

^{Prize ceremony for Büchel Award. From Left: Carsten Schröder, Denis Gerstorf, Stefanie Salata, C. Katharina Spieß © Bernhard Ludewig}

SOEP at the DFG workshop "Communicative means for barrier-free survey research"

On 1 October, SOEP was represented at the DFG-funded workshop ‘Communicative means for barrier-free survey research’ at the University of Münster by Florian Griese – many thanks again to the project team led by Benjamin Bigl, Ketevan Gognelashvili and Volker Gehrau for the invitation. Together with other members of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute e.V. (ASI), valuable insights were gained into how future online survey instruments can be designed to be accessible and inclusive.

SOEP at the SLLS Annual International Conference 2024

From September 24 to 26, SOEP – represented by Sabine Zinn, Felix Süttmann, and Hans Walter Steinhauer – attended the SLLS (Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies) Annual International Conference 2024 “Inequalities Across Life Courses and Generations: Interdisciplinary Perspectives “ in Essex to exchange views on current research methods with colleagues from panel studies including ‘Understanding Society,’ the ‘US Panel Study of Income Dynamics,’ and the ‘Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey.’

SOEP meets Understanding Society at the SSLS Annual International Conference 2024 in Essex. From Left: Michaela Brenzeval, Sabine Zinn, Annette Jäcke, and Jonathan Burton.
© Sabine Zinn, SOEP/DIW Berlin

clear

SOEP meets Understanding Society at the SSLS Annual International Conference 2024 in Essex. From Left: Michaela Brenzeval, Sabine Zinn, Annette Jäcke, and Jonathan Burton.
© Sabine Zinn, SOEP/DIW Berlin

^{SOEP meets Understanding Society at the SSLS Annual International Conference 2024 in Essex. From Left: Michaela Brenzeval, Sabine Zinn, Annette Jäcke und Jonathan Burton, © Sabine Zinn.}

They also presented two talks at the symposium “Establishment of Refreshment and Special Samples in Longitudinal Household Studies:”

• Felix Süttmann (Co-authors: Hans Walter Steinhauer, Florian Griese, Sabine Zinn): Exploring Nationwide Household Sampling: Random Routes vs Residents - Registration Office Approach.
• Hans Walter Steinhauer (Co-author: Sabine Zinn): Navigating Challenges: A Comprehensive Approach to Sampling Ukrainian Refugees in Germany Using Population Registers.

SOEP at the DGPs Congress

The 53rd Congress of the German Psychological Society (DGPs) and the 15th Conference of the Austrian Psychological Society (ÖGP) was held jointly September 16-19, 2024, at the University of Vienna, Austria, under the theme “Menschen, Mitwelt, Medien” – several SOEP employees were on site presenting their research with SOEP data:

• Emilija Meier-Faust gave a presentation on her paper “Same but different? Measurement Invariance of a Big Five Short Scale across Socioeconomic Background” (Co-author is Sandra Bohmann) as part of the symposium ‘Measurement Methods and Approaches to Invariance; Measurement Methods.’
• Isabel Gebhardt presented her poster entitled “A Brother to bother? Using a natural experiment to assess effects of sibling gender on women's gender role attitudes” (Co-author is Julia M. Rohrer from the University of Leipzig).
• Janina Britzke and Verena Neumann from the Knowledge Transfer Department were also on site all four days, answering questions about SOEP.

Publications

“Social Report 2024” published: What are living conditions like in Germany?

A digital press conference on the publication of the "Sozialbericht 2024" took place on November 6, published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), the report was produced in collaboration with the German Socio-Economic Panel.

Screenshot of the digital press conference for the Sozialbericht 2024 on November 6, 2024, with Markus M. Grabka a.o.
© SOEP/DIW Berlin

clear

Screenshot of the digital press conference for the Sozialbericht 2024 on November 6, 2024, with Markus M. Grabka a.o.
© SOEP/DIW Berlin

^{Screenshot of the digital press conference for the Sozialbericht 2024 on November 6, 2024, with Markus M. Grabka a.o., © SOEP/DIW Berlin); Press release (WZB) (in German)}

The Sozialbericht (previously: “Datenreport”/Data Report) contains numerous analyses of living conditions in Germany, compiled by experts in official statistics and social research. It covers a wide range of topics, from education, the labor market and income, to health, values, and attitudes. For the first time ever, analyses address loneliness, homelessness, and the situation of Ukrainian refugees.

Regarding inequality and distribution, a key research area, SOEP and WZB contribute several analyses. One key finding is that while wealth in Germany has increased in recent years, it remains unequally distributed. At the same time, the risk of poverty in old age has risen slightly across all population groups.

To counteract the labor shortage in Germany, untapped potential must be better used. For example, 335,000 full-time workers could be added if mothers and fathers could work as much as they want to work. Immigrants could also be better integrated: In 2023, a quarter of the labor force in Germany consisted of people with a migration background; among those aged 20-29, it is even a third.

How do women’s labor supply preferences change after their partner loses his job?

In this paper, Mattis Beckmannshagen and Rick Glaubitz examine how desired and actual working hours of women are affected by an involuntary job loss of their partner. Existing studies on the insurance function of the household, i.e., whether female partners expand their labor supply to compensate for the reduced household income after their partner’s job loss, only find minor adjustments of affected women’s labor supply. The new study by Beckmannshagen and Glaubitz shows that the lack of more substantial labor supply adjustments is in line with women’s labor supply preferences and is not due to an inability to realize increased desired working hours. Instead, the results indicate that desired and actual working hours of women only increase marginally and that these increases are of similar magnitude.

^{Beckmannshagen, M. / Glaubitz, R. (2024). Is there a desired added worker effect? Evidence from involuntary job losses. Review of Economics of the Household. DOI: 10.1007/s11150-024-09742-5.}

What links exist between cognitive reflection, preferences and socio-economic outcomes?

In the paper, Frank M. Fossen, Levent Neyse, and Carsten Schröder describe how they tested 16 hypotheses currently discussed in the relevant research on possible links between cognitive reflection, preferences in the general population, and real-word socio-economic outcomes on the basis of SOEP-IS data: Their results show that higher cognitive reflection is associated with interpersonal trust and saving. There is also suggestive evidence of a positive relationship with labor income. However, no other statistically significant or suggestive associations with cognitive reflection were found, meaning that the hypotheses of previous studies on risk-taking, patience, and social preferences could not be confirmed.

^{Fossen, F. M. / Neyse, L. / Schröder, C. (2024). Does Cognitive Reflection Relate to Preferences and Socio-Economic Outcomes? Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics (just accepted). DOI: 10.1086/732653}

Historical inheritance rules: Equal distribution of land has led to higher growth

In DIW-Wochenbericht 39/2024 (only in German), you can read how the various inheritance customs and regulations in Germany that determined the passing on of agricultural land to the next generation in the 19th century still have an effect today: An econometric analysis led by Charlotte Bartels (in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT) shows that the more equal distribution of agricultural land ownership in Germany led to higher regional growth in the long term. More consistent access to land and the resulting income enabled more people to become entrepreneurs in areas with equal inheritance distribution among siblings (real division) – compared to areas where only the first-born child inherited (right of inheritance). At the beginning of industrial society, this entrepreneurial activity formed the breeding ground for today's innovative middle class. To this day, there are more companies and economic prosperity in the areas of real division. On average, these companies are smaller but more productive than companies in areas with historical inheritance law. In the long term, the research team concluded that real division proved to be an important institution for inclusive economic growth. 

^{Bartels, C. / Jäger, S. / Obergruber, N. (2024): Historische Erbschaftsregeln für Land prägen noch heute die Wirtschaft. DIW-Wochenbericht 39/2024, 603-608.}

Home office established in Germany, but major differences in use

Before the coronavirus pandemic began, the proportion of people working from home in Germany was low by international standards. With the temporary introduction of the obligation to work from home in 2021, the debate about the future of the working world has gained significant momentum. DIW-Wochenbericht 43/2024 (only in German) analyzes the development of home office use in Germany for the period from 2014 to 2022 based on SOEP data. Together with Sarah Satilmis and Linus Seikat from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Jan Goebel examines the use of the home office, both according to workplace characteristics such as industry and company size as well as personal characteristics such as educational attainment and household composition: From 2021 onwards, there is a significant increase, with the level not falling back to pre-pandemic levels even after the political measures have been lifted. There are clear differences between the economic sectors. The increase is particularly pronounced among higher-qualified employees in larger companies and among people with children. There are hardly any gender differences while differences between couple households and singles are only intermittent. The analysis also points to higher job satisfaction and slightly longer working hours when working from home. For a modern and flexible labor market, the authors believe that the opportunities for working from home created during the pandemic should be consolidated and further instruments developed to support the option of working from home in the long term.

^{Goebel, J. / Satilmis, S. / Seikat, L. (2024): Historische Erbschaftsregeln für Land prägen noch heute die Wirtschaft. DIW-Wochenbericht 43/2024, 667-674.}

In memoriam Hans-Jürgen Krupp

The founder of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), Hans-Jürgen Krupp, passed away on July 29, 2024, at the age of 91. In Hans-Jürgen Krupp, the SOEP has lost its far-sighted founding father, a formative leadership figure, and a long-time companion and supporter of the SOEP. We will honor his memory (PDF, 328.2 KB).

Degrees and dissertations 

On November 20, Ellen Heidinger defended her dissertation on “The social support systems of refugees: Barriers and bridges to support” at Humboldt University with a very good result (supervisor and first evaluator was Sabine Zinn). 

From Left: Valeriia Heidemann, Sabine Zinn (supervisor and first reviewer), Ellen F. Heidinger, Zerrin Salikutluk (HU Berlin, second reviewer), and Louise Biddle at the disputation of Ellen Heidinger.
© SOEP/DIW Berlin

clear

From Left: Valeriia Heidemann, Sabine Zinn (supervisor and first reviewer), Ellen F. Heidinger, Zerrin Salikutluk (HU Berlin, second reviewer), and Louise Biddle at the disputation of Ellen Heidinger.
© SOEP/DIW Berlin

^{From Left: Valeriia Heidemann, Sabine Zinn (supervisor and first reviewer), Ellen F. Heidinger, Zerrin Salikutluk (HU Berlin, second reviewer), and Louise Biddle at the disputation of Ellen Heidinger. © SOEP/DIW Berlin}

Johannes Seebauer successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Shocks and the Labor Market: Five Empirical Essays in Economics” with summa cum laude at the Department of Economics at Freie Universität Berlin on November 19 (supervisor was Carsten Schröder). 

Julia Witton graduated with a 1.0 in her M.Sc. in Psychology at the Freie University of Berlin on June 30 on the topic “Satisficing in a German Self-Administered Probability-Based Panel Survey” (supervisor was Carina Cornesse). 

Congratulations to all three!

Appointments

Charlotte Bartels has been Interim Professor of Finance at Leipzig University since October 2024; she accepted the professorship on April 1, 2025. We congratulate!

Awards

Emilija Meier-Faust wins NEPS publication award 2024

Emilija Meier-Faust was selected by the jury of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) as this year's winner of the NEPS Publication Award for her paper in the Journal of Personality Assessment entitled “Perceiver Effects and Socioeconomic Background: Contrasting Parent-Reports against Teacher-Reports of Elementary School Students' Personality.” The NEPS (National Educational Panel Study) collects longitudinal data on educational processes and skills development in Germany. We are delighted and congratulate her on this outstanding achievement!

The award ceremony will take place on December 5, 2024, as part of this year's NEPS conference. Meier-Faust will give a keynote speech (LIfBi Lecture) on her research contribution at 3:15 pm.

Philipp Lersch was selected as one of the 100 most important minds in Hauptstadt-Wissenschaft 2024

Who brings new impulses to the Berlin research world? The Tagesspiegel editorial team has identified 100 personalities who are particularly influencing the Berlin-Brandenburg science region this year. With innovative research, excellent teaching and commitment, they are shaping the science of the future. Philipp Lersch was selected and presented in the Tagesspiegel series “The 100 most important minds in science”, episode six: Was Gesellschaften zusammenhält (only in German). Congrats! 

SOEP departure

Two excellent researchers have left the SOEP to continue their successful academic careers elsewhere:

At the end of August, Johannes König ended his postdoc at SOEP to work as an economist at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

At the end of September, Carina Cornesse, until then head of the SOEP Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS), left SOEP to take over as interim head of GESIS methods (Mariel McKone Leonard will remain interim head of SOEP-IS until a new appointment is made).

Both are still guest researchers at SOEP, so to our great pleasure, no goodbye for good. We wish them all the best for the future!

Welcome to SOEP

Rebecca Olthaus and Lotte Maaßen (in the project Wealthy, Wealthier, Wealthiest - The Role of Inheritances and Parental Background for the Structure of the Wealth Distribution and Top Wealth) joined the SOEP PhD student team in the division Applied Panel Analyses on October 1.

Johannes Schütt is working as a Survey Data Scientist in the division Survey Methodology and Management since October 15.

Mario Wolf has been working as a doctoral student (in the SOEP-RegioHub project) in the division Data Operation and Research Data Center at SOEP since November 1.

Rebecca Scheffauer will join the SOEP team on December 1 as research associate in the division Survey Methodology and Management.

Job Openings at SOEP

We’d like to call your attention to job openings at the SOEP: For example, we are currently looking for a Postdoc (F/M/X) in full time. All our job openings can be found on this page.

2nd III/LIS Comparative Economic Inequality Conference 2025

LIS and the UK LIS Satellite Office at the International Inequalities Institute (III) invite scholars working in the field of comparative economic inequality to contribute to the 2nd III/LIS Comparative Economic Inequality Conference from 27-28 February 2025 at the University of Luxembourg.

Keynote Speakers: Nora Lustig, Tulane University, and Fabian Pfeffer, LMU Munich.

Special Event: ‘Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War’. Branko Milanovic will present highlights from his most recent book followed by a discussion with Francisco Ferreira and Janet Gornick.

GESIS Spring Seminar 2025

We are excited to announce the program of the GESIS Spring Seminar 2025! It offers high-quality training in state-of-the-art techniques in quantitative data analysis taught by leading experts in the field, designed for advanced graduate or PhD students, postdocs, and senior researchers. In 2025, all courses will deal with Experimental Designs in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Extensive hands-on exercises and tutorials complement lectures in each course. The Spring Seminar will take place onsite at GESIS Cologne, Germany, from 17 March to 4 April 2025. For registration and detailed course descriptions, please visit https://tinyurl.com/GESIS-Spring-Seminar-2025.

GESIS also offers two short online workshops:

5-6 & 12-13 December 2024: Introduction to Methods of Causal Inference 

18-19 February 2025: Propensity Score Matching: Computation and Balance Estimation for two and more groups in R. 

CfP: German Stata Users Group meeting 2025

We would like to announce the 22nd German Stata Users Group meeting to be held Friday,

March 28, 2025, at: Universität of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. All Stata users, from Germany and elsewhere, or those interested in learning about Stata, are invited to attend. The conference language will be English, due to the international nature of the meeting and the participation of non-German guest speakers.

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please submit an abstract by email to one of the

scientific organizers (max 200 words). The deadline for submissions is January 6, 2025.

The final program will be circulated in January 2025. Scientific Organizers are: Johannes Giesecke, HU Berlin (johannes.giesecke@hu-berlin.de), Ulrich Kohler, University of Potsdam (ulrich.kohler@uni-potsdam.de), and Christian Brzinsky-Fay, University of Hamburg (christian.brzinsky-fay@uni-hamburg.de).