Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Intertemporal remittance behaviour by immigrants in Germany

In this paper, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in the 1997-2009 period for a large sample of migrants from 84 countries in order to develop an empirical model for the propensity by migrants to remit. Our model takes into full account the intertemporal aspects of the problem, which has been ignored by a large part of the applied literature, despite its theoretical and empirical ...

Wage Performance of Immigrants in Germany

This paper uses a large survey (SOEP) to update and deepen our knowledge about the labor market performance of immigrants in Germany. It documents that immigrant workers initially earn on average 20 percent less than native workers with otherwise identical characteristics. The gap is smaller for immigrants from advanced countries, with good German language skills, and with a German degree, and larger ...

Household Savings Decision and Income Uncertainty

This paper empirically investigates the effects of changes in the interest rate as well as transitory income uncertainty on households' consumption-savings decision. Applying a structural demand model to German survey data, we estimate the uncompensated interest rate elasticity for savings, in line with the literature, to around zero. Accordingly, any policy-induced variation of net returns to ...

Intergenerational transfers: The ignored role of time

Does Economic Uncertainty Have an Impact on Decisions to Bear Children? Evidence from Eastern Germany

Does Economic Uncertainty Affect the Decision to Bear Children? Evidence from East and West Germany

A Comparison of the Poverty Impact of Transfers, Taxes and Market Income across Five OECD Countries

Mortgage Market Maturity and Homeownership Inequality among Young Households: A Five-Country Perspective

The Quantitative Role of Child Care for Female Labor Force Participation and Fertility

I document that the labor force participation rate of West German mothers with children aged zero to two exceeds the corresponding child-care enrollment rate, while the opposite is true for mothers whose children are older than two but below the mandatory schooling age. These facts also hold for a cross-section of E.U. countries. I develop a life-cycle model that explicitly accounts for this age-dependent ...

Taking Lemons for a Trial Run: Does Type of Job Exit Affect the Risk of Entering Fixed-Term Employment in Germany?

A central argument for the deregulation of employment contracts is that fixed-term contracts boost employment of jobseekers with uncertain productivity by giving employers a tool to screen such applicants over a longer period of time before permanent hire. We test this proposition by comparing the risk of entering fixed-term employment for individually laid-off workers with that for individuals who ...