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We investigate the role of industrial relations for working from home during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2020 to 2023 and a special COVID sample (SOEP-CoV) for 2020 and 2021, we examine how collective bargaining and plant-level co-determination are associated with the incidence and frequency of working from home. Controlling ...
In:
LABOUR
40 (2026), 3, 321–342
| Laszlo Goerke, Markus M. Grabka, Viola Hilbert, Yue Huang
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In Germany, employee absences due to illness rose sharply, particularly in 2022. Various sources argue that the introduction of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU) caused this. Official data previously did not include absences that were not reported to health insurance providers; since the introduction of the eAU, this is no longer the case. This gap does not exist in Socio-Economic ...
In:
DIW Weekly Report
20/21 (2026), 167–174
| Markus Grabka, Oskar Breer
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This paper studies inequality of opportunity (IOp) in individual net wealth in Germany from 2002 to 2019 using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Applying the ex-ante IOp framework, we quantify the share of wealth inequality attributable to immutable circumstances and benchmark it against IOp in gross labour earnings. Relative IOp in net wealth is high?slightly above one half of total wealth inequality?and ...
In:
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
(online first) (2026),
| Daniel Graeber, Johannes König, Viola Hilbert
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This paper explores the effect of COVID-19 infection rates on individuals’ risk preferences using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), a large population-wide random sample. Exploiting county-level variation in a difference-in-differences design, we find that risk preferences remain unchanged: the effect is precisely estimated at 2.1% of a standard deviation (95% CI: [−0.4%, +4.6%]), ruling out economically ...
In:
Journal of Risk and Uncertainty
(2026),
| Daniel Graeber, Ulrich Schmidt, Carsten Schröder, Johannes Seebauer
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Climate change triggers anxiety in many people. Concerns about the consequences of climate change vary significantly not just by age and generation but also over time. Using German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, this Weekly Report examines the extent to which these differences stem from age-related effects, generational socialization, or year-specific events. The results show that climate concerns ...
In:
DIW Weekly Report
18/19 (2026), 157–163
| Daniel Graeber, Laura Schmitz, Franziska Holz
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Longitudinal surveys play a central role in social science research and policy advice but increasing demands for timely data pose substantial challenges for managing time, resources, and data quality across survey waves. While the Survey Life Cycle (SLC) provides a well established framework for organizing survey production, it is primarily geared toward single wave studies and offers limited guidance ...
In:
Survey Practice
20 (2026),
| Florian Griese, Christian Hunkler, Sabine Zinn
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Parenthood has been linked to changes in health-related behavior, though studies have reported mixed findings on whether these changes are beneficial or harmful. To date, most research has focused on associations between parenthood and individual health behaviors, while research on the association with overall health lifestyles is limited. This study investigates how health lifestyles change following ...
In:
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
23 (2026), 7, 926
| Maja Großbach, Philipp Linden, Nadine Reibling
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The intergenerational transmission of educational attainment remains a key mechanism through which social inequalities are reproduced. While sociological research has long emphasized environmental influences, recent research shows that genetic differences are also relevant to educational attainment, as well as socially contingent in their influences. Using the effects of a polygenic score for educational ...
In:
KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
(2026),
| Lena Harjes
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Background: Family migration shapes early childhood development (ECD), but the link between parental voluntary versus forced migration experiences and ECD remains underexplored. Germany, with its diverse migration streams, offers an opportunity to investigate this interrelation. Objective: This study examines the link between parental migration status and ECD of children aged 2–4 and investigates whether ...
In:
Demographic Research
55 (2026), 8, 275–306
| Valeriia Heidemann, Sabine Zinn, Louise Biddle
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Research has demonstrated that couples have similar partisan preferences, a finding associated with political polarization. However, it remains debated to what extent different mechanisms contribute to this homogamy. Analyzing dyadic panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984–2020, we distinguish analytically between (1) direct political matching (i.e., partner selection on matching party ...
In:
Social Forces
103 (2025), 4, 1581–1603
| Ansgar Hudde, Daniela Grunow