Does birth order shape people’s propensity to take risks? Evidence is mixed. We used a three-pronged approach to investigate birth-order effects on risk taking. First, we examined the propensity to take risks as measured by a self-report questionnaire administered in the German Socio-Economic Panel, one of the largest and most comprehensive household surveys. Second, we drew on data from the Basel
Previous work has shown that preferences are not always stable across time, but surprisingly little is known about the reasons for this instability. I examine whether variation in people’s emotions over time predicts changes in preferences. Using a large panel data set, I find that within-person changes in happiness, anger, and fear have substantial effects on risk attitudes and patience.
Individuals often have to decide to which degree of risk they want to expose others, or how much risk to accept if their choice has an externality on third parties. One typical application is a household. We run an experiment in the German Socio-Economic Panel with two members from 494 households. Participants have a good estimate of each other’s risk preferences, even if not explicitly informed.
The goal of this study was to identify and empirically test variables that indicate how well partners in relationships know each other’s food preferences. Participants (n = 2,854) lived in the same household and were part of a large, nationally representative panel study in Germany. Each partner independently predicted the other’s preferences for several common food items. Results show that
This article examines heterogeneity in the effect of unemployment on social participation. Whereas existing studies on this relationship essentially estimate mean effects, we use quantile regression methods to provide a broader and more complete picture. To ac-count for the potential endogeneity of job loss, we estimate quantile treatment effects (on the treated) based on entropy balancing and
The goal of this study was to identify and empirically test variables that indicate how well partners in relationships know each other's food preferences. Participants (n = 2,854) lived in the same household and were part of a large, nationally representative panel study in Germany. Each partner independently predicted the other's preferences for several common food items. Results show that
Equality of opportunity with respect to health outcomes is severely understudied, while in contrast the cases of income and education have received ample attention in the economic literature. This paper is the first to analyze the importance of family background for health in a cross-country comparison. Using comparable survey data we study sibling correlations in five health outcomes in
We examine the reemployment earnings of workers reemployed by a former employer (known as recall) across different occupations. We first ask whether recalls represent a flexibilization strategy that mitigates adverse unemployment effects on workers’ earnings. And second, whether there are any differences in post-unemployment earnings of recalled workers across different occupations. The article
A large literature documents effects of parental leave on mothers' labour market outcomes, yet we know very little about the effects on their firms and co-workers. We use unique administrative data that covers the universe of employees subject to social security and firms in Germany to address this question. We first establish some novel stylised facts in parental leave-taking
We investigate the effect of spells of no formal employment of young Germans on their chances of entering the labor market through an apprenticeship. We also study whether the potential negative effects of such spells can be mitigated by publicly provided training measures. In a field experiment, the fictitious applications of three young women were sent to firms advertising apprenticeships for
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