Guido Heineck

Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg · Department of Economics

Many studies suggest a relationship between education and political participation, but only some address causality. We add to this by re-examining the German case. For identification, we exploit an exogenous increase in compulsory schooling, and use data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The data enable analyses that do not rely sol...

We investigate the relationship between preschoolers' self-regulation and their mathematical competence and its development over the first two years of primary school using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Our results imply a positive association between self-regulation and mathematical competence levels, even when hold...

Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to pass national skill and content knowledge tests before they are allowed to participate in merit-based selection competitions for tenured positions at public schools in an attempt to raise teacher quality. We evaluate the impact of this policy using linked administrative teache...

Are there skill differentials in young children's competence levels by their self-regulation abilities and do such early life differences mark the onset of increasing disparities in competence development? We add to previous research by investigating the relationship between preschoolers' self-regulation and their mathematical competence and its de...

One of the key themes covered in the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) are returns to education. Within this wide-ranging field, NEPS focuses on the four following returns dimensions on which education is supposed to have an effect: labor market outcomes, civic engagement, health, and subjective well-being. The transformation of education int...

Is there an entrepreneurial personality, and does it appear early in life? We provide a new answer to this important question by examining traits related to Type A behavior (Aggression, Leadership, Responsibility, and Eagerness-Energy) measured during adolescence and their relationship to entrepreneurship propensity in adulthood. The results indica...

We use international assessment data on more than 22,000 students from six European countries to investigate whether the transition into daylight saving time affects elementary students’ performance in low-stakes tests in the week after the time change. Exploiting the time shift as a natural experiment, we find that the effect of changing the clock...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between religious involvement and attitudinal (importance of helping others and of being socially active) and behavioral components of prosociality (volunteering, charitable giving, and blood donations) in Germany. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analyses are based on r...

Is there an entrepreneurial personality, and does it appear early in life? We provide a new answer to this important question by examining traits related to Type A behavior (Aggression, Leadership, Responsibility, and Eagerness-Energy) measured during adolescence and their relationship to entrepreneurship propensity in adulthood. The results indica...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust, fairness, and scope of cooperation? To answer this question, we study the post-unification trajectory of convergence between East and West German individuals with regard to trust, cooperation, and risk. Our hypotheses are derived from a model of Germa...

We analyze how well-being is related to working time preferences and hours mismatch. Self-reported measures of life satisfaction are used as an empirical approximation of true wellbeing. Our results indicate that well-being is generally lower among workers with working time mismatch. Particularly underemployment is detrimental for well-being. We fu...

Is there a reward for basic skills in the German labor market? To answer this question, we examine the relationship between literacy, numeracy and monthly gross earnings of full-time employed workers. We use data from the ALWA survey, augmented by test scores on basic cognitive skills as well as administrative earnings data. Our results indicate th...

Zusammenfassung Wir untersuchen zunächst die längerfristigen Veränderungen im geschlechtsspezifischen Ar-beitsmarktverhalten und deren Auswirkungen. Wie bisherige Studien auch verweisen unsere Befunde zunächst auf die steigende Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung von Frauen. Frauen sind aber weiterhin weitaus stärker als Männern von Erwerbsunterbrechungen betr...

The author examines the relationship between individuals' personality traits and labor market success in the United Kingdom using data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS). With longitudinal individuals' earnings information as well as psychological profile data of respondents specifically from the 2005 wave, he is able to ascertain the ex...

This study examines the relationship between individuals' cognitive abilities, unemployment propensity and unemployment entry or exit. Cognitive skills only weakly affect unemployment propensity and contribute little to individual heterogeneity. They, however, help employed males to stay out of unemployment.

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die „mentalen“ Diskrepanzen und Unterschiede in der Auffassung ökonomisch relevanter Präferenzparameter wie Vertrauen und Risikoeinstellung zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschen und geht der Frage nach: Ist Konvergenz bei den untersuchten Größen zwischen Ost und West zu beobachten? Im Ergebnis lässt sich feststellen, da...

Eine vom IAB neu entwickelte Typisierung erlaubt es erstmals, Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede von regionalen Ausbildungsmärkten abzubilden. Vor allem die Arbeitslosenquote und die Struktur der Ausbildungsbetriebe vor Ort haben Einfluss darauf, wie vielen Jugendlichen in einer Region der Übergang in betriebliche Ausbildung gelingt. Bundesweit lasse...

ber die kognitiven Grundkom-petenzen der erwachsenen Bevöl-kerung in Deutschland ist bisher wenig bekannt. Eine aktuelle IAB-Studie liefert nun erste Befunde zu Lesekompetenzen und alltagsma-thematischen Fähigkeiten von 18-bis 52-Jährigen.  Etwa ein Viertel der Erwachsenen hat keine ausreichenden Lese-und Rechenkompetenzen, um den Alltag problemlo...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust? To answer this question, we use the reunification of Germany as a natural experiment and study the post-reunification trajectory of convergence with regard to individuals’ trust and risk, as well as perceived fairness and cooperativeness. Our hypothes...

It is well known that individuals’ risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and also educational attainment, but there is barely any evidence on whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of dependent children. We add to this literature and examine children’s secondary school tra...

We provide first evidence on the relationship between cognitive abilities and earnings in Germany using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) Study. The estimates suggest that mechanics abilities are positively related to wages of West German workers, even when educational attainment is controlled for. Pragmatics of cognition are not rel...

Recent research suggests for height-wage premiums because of differentials in cognitive abilities. This note adds to the discussion and examines whether verbal and non-verbal competencies are related to height. The results indicate that height is non-linearly associated to males' abilities.

There is a small literature suggesting for earnings differentials of nonheterosexual individuals. This study adds to this research using 1994 International Social Survey Programme data. While earnings of lesbian women and bisexual individuals are unaffected, results from selection corrected Mincer-type regressions indicate earnings penalties of abo...

We compare German institutions of tertiary education (universities and polytechnics) with respect to the cost of and the returns to their educational degrees. Based on cost data from two different sources we find that on average the expenditures of universities are lower than those of polytechnics when we consider expenditures per potential enrolle...

Secondary jobholding is apersistent phenomenon in both Germany and the UK. Using panel data from the BHPS and the SOEP, reduced form participation equations are estimated for male and female workers separately. Whereas the results vary across gender and countries, there is support for both main theoretical strands, i.e. for the ‘hours-constraints’...

Complementing prior research on income mobility and educational transmission, we provide evidence on the intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our estimates suggest that individuals¿ cognitive skills are positively related to the abilities of their parents, even when educational...

Over the last decades the German education system underwent numerous reforms in order to improve “equality of opportunity”, i.e. to guarantee all pupils independent of parental background equal access to higher education. At the same time internationally comparative evidence yields that Germany features particularly low intergenerational mobility w...

We provide the first joint evidence on the relationship between individuals' cognitive abilities, their personality and earnings for Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we employ scores from an ultra-short IQ-test and a set of measures of personality traits, namely locus of control, reciprocity and all basic items from t...

Using BHPS data for the first time, evidence for the height-earnings relationship is updated for the UK. In contrast to prior findings, baseline height differentials mainly vanish once individuals' occupation and non-linear height gradients are accounted for.

Religion as a determinant of individuals’ behavior has only recently found its way in the economic literature. In this analysis, four waves of ISSP-data covering the time between 1991 and 2002 are used to examine the relationship between religion and attitudes towards working mothers across (West and East) Germany, Ireland, and the UK. Further, usi...

As about 20 % of pregnant women smoke, 137,000 of the 685,795 neonates delivered in Germany in 2005 have been affected by smoking during pregnancy. Caring for neonates born prematurely because of smoking results in additional costs. We have attempted to estimate these costs. Data of 1,815,318 pregnancies were collected from the German perinatal sta...

Hintergrund: Bei Zugrundelegung eines Anteils von 20 % Raucherinnen im Schwangerenkollektiv wurden von den 685 795 Lebendgeborenen des Jahrgangs 2005 137 000 Neugeborene in Deutschland in ihrer Fetalperiode durch Rauchschadstoffe geschädigt. Für die durch das Rauchen zu früh geborenen Kinder sind zusätzliche Kosten für die klinische Betreuung verbu...

This paper examines the socio-economic variation in height and weight using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Results reinforce previous research insofar as height is associated with socio-economic differences. For example, a low maternal schooling level or a lower position in the income distribution is negatively correlated with the heigh...

Data from the Austrian Family and Fertility Survey are used to examine for the first time the contemporary relationship between religion and fertility in first unions in Austria. Although Austria is a Catholic country, results from a Poisson hurdle model show that both women s denominational affiliation and religiosity affect the number of children...

We contribute to the literature on the relationship between cognitive abilities and labour market outcomes providing first evidence for Germany. In particular, cross-sectional data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) are used, which include two measures of cognitive ability, one test of fluid mechanics (speed test) and another test of cryst...

 < This paper analyses whether taller workers earn more than their shorter counterparts. Using GSOEP data from 1991 to 2002, earnings functions are estimated for male and female workers for both West and East Germany. The Hausman-Taylor IV estimator is applied to account for unobservable heterogeneity including also time-invariant indicators. The r...

This paper analyzes the determinants of secondary jobholding in Germany and the UK. Although differing in labor market regulations, moonlighting is a persistent phenomenon in both countries. Using panel data from the BHPS and the SOEP, reduced form participation equations are estimated for male and female workers separately. While the results vary...

This paper uses ISSP-data from the 1990's to analyze the relationship between religion and attitudes towards working mothers both within and across Austria, West and East Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US. In addition, the sub-sample of husbands is used to examine whether these attitudes along with males' religious involvement affect wives' full-t...

Using behavioral theories, this article analyzes whether religion influences married women in Germany in their decision to supply labor. Gender roles and accompanying attitudes toward the division of labor among spouses might differ across religious groups depending on the groups’ strictness. Examining data from the GSOEP, the findings suggest that...

Using data from a sample of German women, this paper analyzes the relationship between maternal characteristics and infants' birth weight and pre-term delivery. Besides typical epidemiological factors that influence the weight of infants, such as the gestational age and maternal BMI at the beginning of the pregnancy, we find a West--East gradient....

This study is a collection of essays in empirical labor economics with a focus on labor supply. The topics chosen are from different fields of research that are not on the top of economists' agenda and therefore are underresearched. First, it is examined whether religion affects individuals' economic outcomes. The effects of substance use, measured...

This paper provides new estimates of the supply of second jobs in Britain. Reduced form participation equations are estimated using longitudinal data from the BHPS. Adding to previous research, separate equations for males and females are estimated that control for unobservable individual heterogeneity. Support is found for the two most prominent m...

This paper examines the effect of smoking behavior on earnings. Using data from the GSOEP, both cross-sectional and longitudinal models are estimated separately for males and females. Results for the cross-sectional models confirm prior analyses inasmuch as smoking has a negative effect on earnings for males. However, applying fixed-effects estimat...

On behavioural theory basis, this article analyses whether religion influences married women in Germany in their decision to supply labour. Gender roles and accompanying attitudes toward the appropriate division of labour among spouses might differ across religious groups depending on the groups´ strictness. Using data from the German Socio-Economi...

Using longitudinal data from the GSOEP, we analyse the behaviour of jobholders in response to the introduction of social insurance contributions on minimal employment (a specific form of part-time employment in Germany). As the so-called 'exclusively marginal employed' jobholders and 'marginal employed' double-jobholders are affected quite differen...

This paper explores determinants of church attendance and the formation of 'religious human capital' in Germany within a Becker-style allocation-of-time framework. The analysis is based on data derived from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Taking advantage of the longitudinal structure of the data, we are able to control for unobservable he...

Mit den Längsschnittdaten des SOEP wird in diesem Beitrag untersucht, wie geringfügig Beschäftigte auf die im April 1999 eingeführte Sozialversicherungspflicht für derartige Beschäftigungsverhältnisse reagiert haben. Da ausschließlich geringfügig Beschäftigte und geringfügig Nebentätige auf sehr unterschiedliche Weise von den Neuregelungen betroffe...

Mit der Einführung der Sozialversicherungspflicht für geringfügige Beschäftigungsverhältnisse im April 1999 wurde vom Gesetzgeber ein vorläufiger Schlusspunkt unter eine jahrelange Diskussion gesetzt. Ziel der Reform war, die Einkommen aus geringfügiger Beschäftigung zur Finanzierung der Sozialversicherungssysteme mit heranzuziehen und den Beschäft...

"With the longitudinal data from the SOEP this paper examines how 'marginal' part-time workers have responded to the liability to social security payments for such employment relationships, which was introduced in April 1999. As solely 'marginal' part-time workers and those with 'marginal' part-time second jobs are affected by the new regulations i...