Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

A Comparison of Earnings Justice throughout Europe: Widespread Approval in Germany for Income Distribution According to Need and Equity

The present study compares the perceptions of fairness of national earned incomes between the populations of Germany and the rest of Europe based on recent data from the European Social Survey (ESS). The vast majority of European respondents consider very low gross earned incomes to be unjustly low. By contrast, very high incomes are less frequently considered too high in Germany than they are in the ...

Reforms, incentives and flexibilization: Five Essays on Retirement

Nach einem deutlichen Rückgang in den 1980er-Jahren sind die Erwerbsquoten älterer Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland in den 1990er-Jahren und bis zuletzt wieder merklich angestiegen. Die Dissertation untersucht in zwei Kapiteln wie viel dieser Umkehr auf Rentenreformen und sich verändernde Verrentungsanreize von 1980-2015 zurückzuführen ist. In den Kapiteln 4 und 5 untersucht der Autor Reformen des flexiblen ...

Issues in measuring education in cross-national and migration surveys

Education is a central concept in social science research, and thus a key socio-demographic characteristic that is measured in almost every survey. Due to the importance and wide usage of education in empirical studies, this dissertation takes a closer look at this concept and the related education variables. In this thesis the quality of education variables from the perspective of survey organisers ...

Sexual Orientation, Motherhood and Pay: The case of the gender pay gap for homo-/bisexual women

The aim of this thesis is to widen the understanding of the gender pay gap by introducing the factor of sexuality. Same-sex couples have legal rights that are relatively new; how does our understanding of labor division and pay change when more data on queer people emerge? This is achieved by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from the year 2017 and making multiple regressions, ...

Environmental Incentives and Parental Investments

This paper analyses how a family's economic environment influences parental investments in children's development. Worsening economic conditions can incentivize parental investments by raising the importance of human capital accumulation in ensuring later-life success. Using a large representative German survey, in a regional and time- fixed effects setting, I estimate the causal impact of ...

Three essays on the evolution and on policy implications of working hours constraints

Nicht immer stimmt die tatsächliche mit der gewünschten Arbeitszeit überein. Oftmals sind familiäre Verpflichtungen wie Kinderbetreuung der Grund hierfür. Diese Dissertation legt den Schwerpunkt auf die Entwicklung dieser Arbeitszeitdiskrepanzen und evaluiert zwei familienpolitische Maßnahmen, die die Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf stärken sollen. Die kumulative Arbeit untersucht zunächst, welche ...

Performance pay and alcohol use in Germany

Previous studies show that performance pay can benefit firms and workers by increasing productivity and wages. Yet, performance pay can also have unintended consequences for worker health. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine the hypothesis that alcohol use as “self-medication” is a natural response to the stress and uncertainty associated with performance pay. We find that the ...

Ostracism breeds depression: Longitudinal associations between ostracism and depression over a three-year-period

Background: Theoretical models in both clinical (Psychobiological Model of Social Rejection and Depression) as well as social psychology (Temporal Need Threat Model of Ostracism) have postulated that ostracism (i.e. being excluded and ignored by others) may foster the development of depressive symptomatology. However, stress generation models indicate that depression may also foster ostracism as depressed ...

Job Placement via Private vs. Public Employment Agencies: Investigating Selection Effects and Job Match Quality in Germany

Employment agencies aim to match individuals to appropriate jobs. There are public and private employment agencies, which co-exist in many countries. Selection effects may be relevant in the sense that private agencies potentially engage in ‘cream-skimming’ by prioritizing highly qualified workers. The resulting job match quality is also important from an individual, a firm, and a society perspective. ...

Estimating tourism social carrying capacity