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Topics

We try to answer apparently simple but intriguing questions from daily life. For example:

  • Can beauty affect employment chances and income level?
  • How does unemployment affect happiness?
  • Does owning a pet makes you live longer?
  • Can working from home increase employee's work effort?
  • Why can't money buy happiness?
  • What is the impact of a vegetarian diet?
  • Are lefthander different from righthander?

All of these question are based on underlying relationships between two concepts. We try to explain or predict the outcome y by measuring and manipulating the explanatory concept x (holding other factors constant).

Possible topics for empirical projects are the relationships between

  • Happiness (y) and Death (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Birth (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Marriage (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Unemployment (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and watching TV (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Self-Employment (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Commuting (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Income (main x)
  • Happiness (y) and Vegetarianism (main x)

  • Health (y) and Unemployment (main x)
  • Health (y) and Religion (main x)
  • Health (y) and Migration Background (main x)
  • Health (y) and Pet Ownership (main x)
  • Health (y) and Commuting (main x)

  • Income (y) and Obesity (main x)
  • Income (y) and Marriage (main x)
  • Income (y) and Gender (main x)
  • Income (y) and Handedness (main x)
  • Productiviy (y) and Home Office (main x)

If it is in SOEP, we can analyse it.