Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

September 11th and the Earnings of Muslims in Germany – The Moderating Role of Education and Firm Size

While available evidence suggests that the events of September 11th negatively influenced the relative earnings of employees with Arab background in the US, it is not clear that they had similar effects in other countries. Our study for Germany provides evidence that the events also affected the relative earnings of Muslims outside the US. However, the results show that there was no uniform effect ...

Religion and earnings: Is it good to be an atheist with religious parental background?

Using German employee data, we find that being raised by two religious parents and having no current religious affiliation is associated with higher earnings. This conforms to the hypothesis that people who are raised religiously and reject religion as adults are economically more successful as they combine a strong internalized work ethic with an increased interest in present consumption (as opposed ...

Parental Background and Earnings: German Evidence on Direct and Indirect Relationships

Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP), the study analyzes the direct and indirect effects of parental background on employees’ earnings. To examine indirect effects we estimate the determinants of the employees’ years of schooling. In a second step, we run wage regressions to examine direct effects. Our results suggest that the direct and indirect effects of parental background driving ...

Can governments boost voluntary retirement savings via tax incentives and subsidies? A German case study for low-income households

Since 2002 the German government has promoted private retirement saving plans by means of special subsidies and tax incentives (Riester scheme). This policy mainly targets low-income households. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel, we scrutinize the impact of the Riester scheme on private savings. Our empirical strategy consists of treating the introduction of the Riester scheme as a natural ...

The Riester Scheme and Private Savings: An Empirical Analysis based on the German SOEP

Since 2002 the German government has promoted private retirement saving plans by means of special subsidies and tax incentives: the Riester scheme. This policy mainly targets low-income households. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel, we scrutinize the impact of the Riester scheme on private savings. The introduction of the Riester scheme is treated as a natural experiment. Estimation results ...

The Effect of Saving Subsidies on Household Saving - Evidence from Germany

Since 2002 the German government seeks to stimulate private retirement savings by means of special allowances and tax exemptions - the so-called Riester scheme. We apply matching and panel regression techniques to assess the impact of the Riester scheme on households' propensities to save in a natural experiment framework. Estimation results from both the German Socio-Economic Panel and the SAVE ...

Distributional Effects of Subsidizing Retirement Savings Accounts: Evidence from Germany

We empirically investigate the distributional consequences of the Riester scheme, the main private pension subsidization program in Germany. We find that 38% of the aggregate subsidy accrues to the top two deciles of the population, but only 7.3% to the bottom two. Nonetheless the Riester scheme is almost distributionally neutral when looking at standard inequality measures. This is due to two offsetting ...

Institutions, technological change and the wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers: theory and evidence from Europe

High School Vocational Education, Apprenticeship, and Earnings: A Comparison of Germany and the United States

Earnings Losses and Unemployment of Displaced Workers in Germany