Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Feeling German: The impact of education on immigrants’ national identification

In this study, we investigate the role of education in immigrants’ identification with the host society. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and latent growth curve mediation models, we test the immigration paradox hypothesis (de Vroome et al. 2011), which claims that highly educated immigrants identify less with the host society, due to their higher sensitivity to discriminatory experiences. ...

The Fall in German Unemployment: A Flow Analysis

In this paper we investigate the recent fall in unemployment, and the rise in part-time work, labour market participation, inequality and welfare in Germany. Unemployment fell because the Hartz IV reform induced a large fraction of the long-term unemployed to deregister as jobseekers and appear as non-participants. Yet, labour force participation increased because many unregistered-unemployed workers ...

Intergenerational Transmission of Language Capital and Economic Outcomes

Immigrants' Identity, Economic Outcomes and the Transmission of Identity across Generations

In this article we address three issues relating to immigrants' identity, measured as the feeling of belonging to particular ethnic groups. We study the formation of identity with home and host countries. We investigate how identity with either country relates to immigrants' and their children's labour market outcomes. Finally, we analyse the intergenerational transmission of identity. ...

Immigrants, Natives and Social Assistance: Comparable Take-Up Under Comparable Circumstances

Virtual Life Satisfaction

We study life satisfaction data from the 2005 World Values Survey and a 2009 survey of users of the virtual world Second Life. Second Life users do not have the same demographic profile as the general population, but the differences are not as large as we expected. The mechanisms and causes of life satisfaction seem to be similar in the two samples. Among Second Life users, satisfaction with their ...

Job polarization, task prices and the distribution of task returns

We make two contributions to understanding the large shifts in occupational structure seen across developed countries. First, we estimate underlying prices on occupations, grouped by predominant task, using panel data from the UK and Germany. In both countries, price growth is positively associated with employment share growth. This pattern, which disappears with observed wages, is consistent with ...

A Comparison of the Relationship Between Obesity and Earnings in the U.S. and Germany

Obesity and Skill Attainment in Early Childhood

Benefit Duration, Unemployment Duration and Job Match Quality: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach

The generosity of the Unemployment Insurance system (UI) plays a central role for the job search behavior of unemployed individuals. Standard search theory predicts that an increase in UI benefit generosity, either in terms of benefit duration or entitlement, has a negative impact on the job search activities of the unemployed increasing their unemployment duration. Despite the disincentive effect ...