We investigate how negatively reciprocal traits of unemployed individuals interact with "sticks" policies imposing constraints on individual job search effort in the context of the German welfare system. For this we merge survey data of long-term unemployed individuals, containing indicators of...

We propose a new view of initial nonresponse bias in longitudinal surveys. Under certain conditions, an initial bias may "fade-away" over consecutive waves. This effect is discussed in a Markovian framework. A general contraction theorem for time inhomogeneous Markov chains is presented. The...

We match survey and administrative data and determine the extent of misreporting on welfare receipt. In our data, 10.5% of German welfare recipients under-report and 1% over-report benefit receipt. The analysis shows that particularly households who are close to the labour market, without...

We use matched survey and administrative data to study interviewer and interview related determinants of misreporting on welfare receipt in interviews. In our data, 12.2 % of German welfare recipients underreport benefit receipt. We find that underreporting is more likely in formal and...

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the <A href="http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1246&context=ilrreview"><I>Industrial & Labor Relations Review</I></A>.

We analyze the impact of adolescents' friendship relations in their final-year class of high school on subsequent labor market success. Based on a typology of network positions we locate each student within the social system of the school class as either: an <I>isolate</I>, a <I>sycophant</I>, a <I>broker</I> or a...</i></i></i></i>

What makes you popular at school? What are the labor market returns to popularity? We investigate these questions using an objective measure of popularity derived from sociometric theory: the number of friendship nominations received from schoolmates, interpreted as a measure of early...

We analyze the impact of adolescents' friendship relations in their final-year class of highschool on subsequent labor market success. Based on a typology of network positions we locateeach student within the social system of the school class as either: an isolate, a sycophant,a broker or a...

Looping questions are used to collect data about several similar events, such as employment spells, retirement accounts, or marriages. The questions collect information about the number of events experienced as well as details about each one. The questions require respondents to think hard to...

Web surveys have become a standard, and often preferred, mode of survey administration in part because the technology underlying them is much more adaptable. Survey designers often use these technical features to help guide respondents through a survey, by incorporating automated skips, for...