Other Important Links:
The German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) is a German national treausure. It is a representative longitudinal data set of persons, households, and families in the Federal Republic of Germany. Panel sections have focused on changing household composition, employment, income, assets, and job and regional mobility. In addition, it contains information on education, health, leisure, satisfaction, and self worth.
In 1984 about 6000 households were surveyed; of which 1400 were headed by non-Germans. Once a year all members of the households aged 16 or older are questioned. Respondents who move continue to take part in the study as long as the move is within the Federal Republic of Germany (prior to reunification this did not include the German Democratic Republic). In June 1990 the GSOEP was extended to the GDR.
There are four Subsamples. Subsamples A and B cover the old Federal Republic (prior to unification). Sample C represents the former GDR. By design Subsample B was intended to oversample each of five nationalities of foreigners (Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Spain and Italy). Sample D includes people living in private households in the western states of Germany in 1994 or 1995 containing an immigrant who came to the western states of Germany after 1984.
The 1996 version of the GSOEP contains 12 years of information on this population, as well as 6 years of information on German citizens living in the eastern states of Germany, and 1 year of information on recent immigrants (post 1983) to the western states of Germany.
In cooperation with the DIW (the German Institute for Economic Research), the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University has prepared an English language public-use version of the GSOEP for use by the international research community. In order for the GSOEP to be used by researchers outside Germany, German law requires that the privacy of individuals and households be protected. To reduce the risk of identifying individuals or households, the Public-Use Version of the GSOEP does not include detailed information on nationality or region and represents a 95 percent random sample of the original data. Still the Public-Use Version of the GSOEP contains many interesting variables that can be used to study a number of different topics.
For new users, the dissemination of the GSOEP data is a
two-step process. First, it is necessary to sign a contract with
the DIW to use the GSOEP. After the contract is signed, contact
Syracuse to receive the data. The charge for the CD-ROM is $125.
Contact the DIW and Syracuse at the addresses below.
for the contract
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Königin-Luise-Str. 5
D-14195 Berlin
Tel: +49-30-897 89 283
FAX: +49-30-897 89 200 or 209
Internet: eholst@diw-berlin.de
and then
for the data
Detlef Jurkat, Project Assistant
Syracuse University, Center for Policy Research
426 Eggers Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244-1020 USA
Tel: +1-315-443-9442
FAX +1-315-443-1081
Internet: dwjurkat@syr.edu
Data and Program Library Service
University of Wisconsin--Madison
Email: disc@mailplus.wisc.edu
Last updated 02 July, 2001.