Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Two-Thirds Society: Social Fact or Fiction

Social scientists and media commentators have expressed concern that Western countries are becoming two-thirds societies in which two-thirds enjoy the benefits of affluence, while one-third are locked into poverty or near-poverty. This paper, based on economic panel data, tests the two-thirds society hypothesis in the case of (West) Germany 1984-89. The main finding is that poverty (defined as receiving ...

The Importance of Government Policy on Income Levels and Inequality in United Germany: 1990 to 1992

Long and Short Term Poverty: Is Germany a Two-Thirds Society?

Social scientists and media commentators have expressed concern that Western countries are becoming “two-thirds societies” in which two-thirds enjoy the benefits of affluence, while one-third are locked into poverty or near-poverty. This paper, based on economic panel data, tests the two-thirds society hypothesis in the case of (West) Germany 1984–89. The main finding is that poverty (defined as receiving ...

East Germany: rising incomes, unchanged inequality and the impact of redistributive government 1990-92

Poverty Redefined as Low Consumption and Low Wealth, not just Low Income

This paper deals with two connected issues - how best to measure financial poverty and the psychological or subjective consequences of poverty. Measures of poverty are usually based only on low income. Arguably, this is conceptually incorrect; these measures lack validity. To be poor is to have a low material standard of living - involuntarily. So measures of poverty should probably also take account ...

People Typically Experience Extended Periods of Relative Happiness or Unhappiness due to Positive Feedback Loops Between LS and Variables Which are Both Causes and Consequences of LS

Long term panel data enable researchers to construct trajectories of LS for individuals over time. Bar charts of trajectories, and subsequent statistical analysis, show that respondents typically spend multiple consecutive years above and below their own long-term mean level of LS. We attempt to explain these multi-year waves of change by estimating structural equation models with two-way causal links ...

Towards a Theory of Medium Term Life Satisfaction: Two-Way Causation Partly Explains Persistent Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction

Long term panel data enable researchers to construct trajectories of life satisfaction (LS) for individuals over time. In this paper we analyse the trajectories of respondents (N = 3689) in the German Socio-Economic Panel who recorded their LS for 20 consecutive years in 1991–2010. Previous research has shown that at least a quarter of these respondents recorded substantial long term changes in LS ...

Towards a Theory of Medium Term Life Satisfaction: Similar Results for Australia, Britain and Germany

We analyse the Life Satisfaction trajectories of respondents in three long-running, national panel surveys: the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia Survey (HILDA), the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Previous research has shown that substantial minorities of respondents in all three countries recorded long term changes in LS (Fujita and ...

Mrs. Aristotele's Teeth: How SOEP Transformed Life Satisfaction Research

A Theory of Life Satisfaction Dynamics: Stability, Change and Volatility in 25-Year Life Trajectories in Germany

An adequate theory of life satisfaction (LS) needs to take account of both factors that tend to stabilise LS and those that change it. The most widely accepted theory in the recent past—set-point theory—focussed solely on stability (Brickman and Campbell, in: Appley (ed) Adaptation level theory, Academic Press, New York, pp 287–302, 1971; Lykken and Tellegen in Psychol Sci 7:186–189, 1996). That theory ...