Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Unemployment and portfolio choice: Does persistence matter?

Households can rely on private savings or on public unemployment insurance to hedge against the risk of becoming unemployed. These hedging mechanisms are used differently across countries. In this paper, we use a life cycle model to study the effects of unemployment on the portfolio choice of households in the US and in Germany. We distinguish short- and long-term unemployment and find that, in case ...

Unemployed - and Unwilling to Work?

Income Growth in German Households - East Germany Falls Behind

Five Years after the Reform of the Social and Unemployment Benefits in Germany

Great expectations were connected with the so-called Hartz IV reform which came into effect five years ago. In fact the number of unemployed recipients of Hartz IV benefits drastically went down during the last economic rebound. In earlier economic cycles the number of unemployed recipients of social benefits had stagnated in phases of recovery. But this alone is only a weak sign for success: Firstly, ...

Missing Minorities: Explaining Low Migrant Blood Donation Participation and Developing Recruitment Tactics

Missing Minorities (MIMI) is a research project initiated by the European Blood Alliance that aims to develop new strategies to recruit blood donors from minority groups. This paper contributes to this larger project by analyzing data of the German Socio-Economic Panel study 2011 that questioned over 20,000 respondents about their blood donation behavior. Within this sample, the authors identify 1,726 ...

Cross-Skill Redistribution and the Tradeoff between Unemployment Benefits and Employment Protection

The Impact of the Public Pension System on Retirement Behavior in Unified Germany

Gendered Wealth Losses after Dissolution of Cohabitation but not Marriage in Germany

Objective: To document gender differences in how economic wealth changes following the dissolution of marriage and cohabitation in Germany. Background: Wealth can be an important resource to deal with the adverse economic consequences of union dissolution. Marital property regimes usually ensure that both partners receive a share of the couples’ wealth following a divorce. The dissolution of cohabiting ...

Can We Compare Conceptions of Democracy in Cross-Linguistic and Cross-National Research? : Evidence from a Random Sample of Refugees in Germany

This study addresses the heated academic and public debate on the compatibility and comparability of refugees’ and host societies’ democratic values. Comparative values research has long capitalized on global similarities and differences in support for Western democratic values. We argue that such cross-cultural comparisons of culturally diverse groups are challenged by (1) different conceptions of ...

Education, personality and separation: The distribution of relationship skills across society

The reasons why the lower educated divorce more than the higher educated in many societies today are poorly understood. Distinct divorce risks by education could be caused by variation in pressures to the couple, commitment, or relationship skills. We concentrate on the latter explanation by looking at the distribution of personality traits across society and its impact on the educational gradient ...