SOEP

The GSOEP is a wide-ranging representative longitudinal study of private households in Germany. The same private households, persons and families have been surveyed yearly since 1984 (GSOEP "West"). As early as June 1990 - meaning before the monetary, economic and social union - the survey was extended to the territory of the former GDR (GSOEP "East"). The GSOEP data supply information on objective as well as subjective living conditions, on the process of change in various areas of life, and on the links between these areas and the changes themselves.

The advantages of the GSOEP are its unique analytical possibilities with regard to:

- Longitudinal Data (panel design);
- Household Context (all adult household members are surveyed);
- Problem Groups (high number of respondents);
- Foreigners (currently the largest repeated survey of foreigners in the FRG).

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in conjunction with Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, which has - in conjunction with the University of Michigan -  developed the Cross-National Equivalent File 1980-2006

The GSOEP User Package is contained on a CD-ROM and includes:

• The first twenty-two waves of the GSOEP data, including the first eight waves of individuals living in the eastern states of Germany, and the first wave of the immigrant data. All data contain English variable and value labels which are translations of the original information provided by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). These data are available in SAS-Windows *.SAS7BDAT, SAS Transport *.V5X, SPSS-Windows*.SAV, SPSS Transport*.POR, Stata 8.0, and ASCII formats.
• Dictionary files that include the variable names, labels, and positions, as well as value labels and formats.
• An Adobe Acrobat version of The GSOEP Study: Desktop Companion to the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), edited by John Haisken-DeNew and Joachim Frick.
• English translations of all questionnaires, from 1984 to 2005, in MS Word / pdf format.

The Department of Policy Analysis and Management and the DIW conduct annual Summer Workshops to introduce researchers to these databases and to provide a forum for papers currently using the GSOEP data.

Included on the CD-ROM with the Cornell University User Package for the Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF-Cross-National Equivalent File 1980-2005) 1980-2005 is the Cornell University English User Package for the GSOEP 1984-2005.

For users who have already signed a contract with the DIW and have received earlier releases of these data, the charge for the CD-ROM is $30.

For new users, the dissemination of the GSOEP 1984-2005 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 Cornell to receive the data. The charge for the CD-ROM is $125. Contact the DIW and Cornell at the following addresses.

For the Contract:
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Königin-Luise-Str.5
D-14195 Berlin
Tel.: +49-30-89789-1
Fax: +49-30-89789-109 (SOEP) or -200 or -209 (Main)
E-mail: soepmail@diw.de

For the Data:
Kristina Gashler, Project Assistant
Cornell University
Department of Policy Analysis and Management
120 MVR Hall
Ithaca, New York
14853-4401 USA
Tel.: +1-607-255-8012
FAX: +1-607-255-4071
E-mail: GSOEP@cornell.edu