Christian Schmitt, Martin Kroh &Jürgen Schupp (Authors): Demographic choices and events in Germany: The scope and potential of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in analyzing demographic change.

The aim of this contribution is to highlight the potential of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study in conducting demographic analyses, and to provide evidence from two selected empirical studies. Starting in 1984, the SOEP provides long running panel data, representative of the German population. Repeated observations among the same individuals, combined with biographical and retrospective survey modules span an arc of information from conception to death. The SOEP covers key topics on fertility, migration, and mortality, including information on marital and fertility histories, migration background and a register-based follow-up study of attritors to provide a full coverage of emigration and deaths. Importantly, the SOEP enables researches to related these demographic indicators to a broad variety of background factors, including education, income, activity status, health, attitudes, and psychological traits, to name only a few. The SOEP offers a high level of comparability to other national panel studies, including the BHPS, PSID, HILDA. This renders the SOEP a key resource for cross-national research. Selected findings include a cross national study on the impact of economic uncertainty on fertility decisions in Germany, and the UK, as well as a study on the impact of economic uncertainty on fertility decisions in Germany.