Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Understanding the Learning Experiences of Highly Educated Refugees from Iraq and Syria En Route to Economic Integration in Luxembourg

This qualitative exploratory study sought to understand highly educated Iraqi and Syrian refugees’ perceptions of their learning experiences during economic integration in Luxembourg. This research sought to elucidate how these new migrants learned to integrate in a country with a long tradition of migration but little exposure to Arabic-speaking groups. Further, it sought to explore participants’ ...

Pension Entitlements and Net Wealth in Austria

This study combines data from the HFCS (Household Finance and Consumption Survey) and the social security registry to estimate the present value of public pension entitlements for Austria in the year 2017. The household averages of the present value of pension entitlements and of private net wealth turn out to be similar (both amounting to around €250,000) which is in line with the results for other ...

Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply

Does the culture in which a woman grows up influence her labor market decisions once she has had a child? And to what extent can exposure to a different cultural group in adulthood shape maternal labor supply? To address these questions, we exploit the setting of the German reunification. A state socialist country, East Germany strongly encouraged mothers to participate in the labor market full-time, ...

Social Norms and the Labour Market Integration of Women: Three Lessons Learnt from German Women since World War II

In light of persistent gender inequality on the labour market, I investigate how social norms affect women’s labour market integration along two dimensions: through reduced labour supply upon the arrival of children and through constraints on geographic mobility. I first look at the persistence and change of gender norms around the time of childbirth. To that end, I explore the setting of the German ...

Are Retirees More Satisfied? Anticipation and Adaptation Effects: A Causal Panel Analysis of German Statutory Insured and Civil Service Pensioners

This study contributes to the subjective well-being and retirement literature by quantifying life satisfaction before (4) and after retirement (9+) periods asking: Are retirees more satisfied? Fixed-effects and causal instrumental variables (IV) estimates with individual longitudinal data of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 33 waves) analyze anticipation and adaptation retirement effects of statutory ...

Physical Intimacy in Older Couples’ Everyday Lives: Its Frequency and Links With Affect and Salivary Cortisol

Objectives: Physical intimacy is important for communicating affection in romantic relationships. Theoretical and empirical work highlights linkages between physical intimacy, affect, and physiological stress among young and middle-aged adults, but not older adults. We examine physical intimacy and its associations with positive and negative affect and cortisol levels in the daily lives of older couples. ...

No Evidence That Siblings' Gender Affects Personality across Nine Countries

Does growing up with a sister rather than a brother affect personality? In this article, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of siblings’ gender on adults’ personality, using data from 85,887 people from 12 large representative surveys covering nine countries (United States, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, China, and Indonesia). We investigated ...

Information Frictions among Firms and Households

We survey samples of German firms and households to document novel stylized facts about the extent of information frictions among the two groups. First, firms' expectations about macroeconomic variables are closer to expert forecasts and less dispersed than households', consistent with higher information frictions among households. Second, the degree of dispersion and the distance from expert ...

Managers' Risk Preferences and Firm Training Investments

We provide the first estimates of the impact of managers' risk preferences on their training allocation decisions. Our conceptual framework links managers' risk preferences to firms' training decisions through the bonuses they expect to receive. Risk-averse managers are expected to select workers with low turnover risk and invest in specific rather than general training. Empirical evidence ...

Myths and Facts About Inequality