Individual Risk Attitudes: New Evidence from a Large, Representative, Experimentally-Validated Survey

This paper presents new evidence on the distribution of risk attitudes in the population, using a novel set of survey questions and a representative sample of roughly 22,000 individuals living in Germany. Using a question that asks about willingness to take risks in general, on an 11-point scale, we find evidence of heterogeneity across individuals, and show that willingness to take risks is negatively related to age and being female, and positively related to height and parental education. We test the behavioral relevance of this survey measure by conducting a complementary field experiment, based on a representative sample of 450 subjects, and find that the general risk question is a good predictor of actual risk-taking behavior. We then use a more standard lottery question to measure risk preferences in our sample of 22,000, and find similar results regarding heterogeneity and determinants of risk preferences, compared to the general risk question. The lottery question also makes it possible to estimate the coefficient of relative risk aversion for each individual in the sample. Using five questions about willingness to take risks in specific domains - car driving, financial matters, sports and leisure, career, and health - the paper also studies the impact of context on risk attitudes, finding a strong but imperfect correlation across contexts. Using data on a collection of risky behaviors from different contexts, including traffic offenses, portfolio choice, smoking, occupational choice, participation in sports, and migration, the paper compares the predictive power of all of the risk measures. Strikingly, the general risk question predicts all behaviors whereas the standard lottery measure does not. The best predictor for any specific behavior is typically the corresponding context-specific measure.Risk Preferences, Experimental Validation, Field Experiment, SOEP, Gender Differences, Context, Age, Height, Subjective Well-Being, Migration, Occupational Choice, Health

The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative: Investigating Immigration and Social Policy Preferences. Executive Report.

In an era of mass migration, social scientists, populist parties and social movements raise concerns over the future of immigration-destination societies. What impacts does this have on policy and social solidarity? Comparative cross-national research, relying mostly on secondary data, has findings in different directions. There is a threat of selective model reporting and lack of replicability. The heterogeneity of countries obscures attempts to clearly define data-generating models. P-hacking and HARKing lurk among standard research practices in this area.This project employs crowdsourcing to address these issues. It draws on replication, deliberation, meta-analysis and harnessing the power of many minds at once. The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative carries two main goals, (a) to better investigate the linkage between immigration and social policy preferences across countries, and (b) to develop crowdsourcing as a social science method. The Executive Report provides short reviews of the area of social policy preferences and immigration, and the methods and impetus behind crowdsourcing plus a description of the entire project. Three main areas of findings will appear in three papers, that are registered as PAPs or in process

Stabilitaet und Wandel von Generationenbeziehungen

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, D-21400 Kiel W 620 (153) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Bericht ueber eine Vorerhebung fuer die Basiserhebung '90 des sozio-oekonomischen Panels in der DDR: (Pressebericht)

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 620 (9) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel im sich einenden Deutschland: Diskussion der Stichprobe und Design der DDR-Basiserhebung 1990

Summary in EnglishAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Repercussions of reunification: patterns and trends in the socio-economic transformation of East Germany

SIGLEAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 620 (44) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel: Methoden der Datenproduktion und Aufarbeitung im Laengsschnitt

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 620 (31) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Formation par apprentissage : Défis pour l'Allemagne et perspectives pour les États-Unis

Buechtemann Christoph F., Soloff Dana J., Schupp Juergen. Formation par apprentissage : Défis pour l'Allemagne et perspectives pour les États-Unis. In: Formation Emploi. N.45, 1994. pp. 51-58

De l'école au travail : Une comparaison entre l'Allemagne et les États-Unis

Christoph F. Buechtemann, Juergen Schupp and Dona Soloff, Von der Schule zur Arbeit Vergleich zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und den Vereinigten-Staaten. Um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit amerikanischer Unternehmen zu fördern, beabsichtigt die Regierung Präsident Clintons, das amerikanische Bildungssystem nach dem Muster des deutschen Dualsystems zu reformieren. Tatsächlich macht eine vergleichende Studie zwischen beiden Ländern die Vorrangstellung Deutschlands sichtbar hinsichtlich der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit, der Übereinstimmung zwischen vorhandenen und geforderten Qualifizierungen, der Mobilität der Arbeitnehmer zwischen den Unternehmen, sowie der Lohnerhöhungen während des Berufslebens. Außer erheblichen organisatorischen Umgestaltungen zur Förderung des beruflichen Ausbildungsniveaus in den USA, müßten anerkannte nationale Kriterien für das Ausbildungsprogramm sowie für die beruflichen Abschlüsse aufgestellt werden. Denn gerade das Vorhandensein solcher Kriterien machen zum größten Teil die Effizienz des deutschen Dualssystem aus.Christoph F. Buechtemann, Juergen Schupp and Dona Soloff, From school to work : a comparison between Germany and the United States. With a view to making American firms more competitive, President Clinton's administration is proposing to reform vocational training in America taking the dual German system as a model. The results of a comparative study on these two countries have shown that Germany has achieved more satisfactory results in terms of youth unemployment, the degree of correspondence between applicants' qualifications and what is required by future employers, worker mobility between firms, and the rate of salary increase during the employees' working career. Apart from the large-scale transformations required to improve the level of vocational training in the USA, it will be necessary to apply criteria which are recognized nationwide in setting up vocational training programs, examinations and diplomas : for it is largely thanks to the existence of criteria of this kind that the dual German system has proved to be so efficient.Pour accroître la compétitivité des entreprises américaines, l'administration du Président Clinton se propose de réformer le système de formation américain sur le modèle dual allemand. En effet, l'étude comparative des deux pays fait apparaître la supériorité de l'Allemagne du point de vue du chômage des jeunes, de la correspondance entre les qualifications acquises et celles demandées dans l'emploi, de la mobilité des travailleurs entre entreprises et de la progression des salaires pendant la vie active. Outre les transformations organisationnelles lourdes visant à élever le niveau de la formation profes sionnelle aux USA, il serait nécessaire d'y adopter des critères nationaux reconnus, pour les programmes de formation, les examens et les certificats professionnels. Car c'est l'existence de tels critères qui assure en bonne part l'efficacité du système dual allemand.Buechtemann Christoph F., Schupp Juergen, Soloff Dana J., Michel Régine. De l'école au travail : Une comparaison entre l'Allemagne et les États-Unis. In: Formation Emploi. N.44, 1993. pp. 37-51

Erwerbsbeteiligung und Erwerbsorientierung von Frauen in West- und Ostdeutschland 1990 bis 1993 zur Loesung der Beschaeftigungsprobleme ist Umdenken in der Gesellschaft und Umbau der 'Institutionen' erforderlich

IAB-96-231-33 BA 250 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman