Volume 21, Issue 3

The research dataset “Microdatabase Direct Investment” is a dataset on foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks based on the official German FDI microdata. The original data are collected on an annual basis by the Deutsche Bundesbank to compile the FDI stock statistics for Germany. Making this official data available to researchers via the MiDi database provides a research dataset on direct investment relationships that is unique both in terms of data available and in the depth of cross-border shareholdings, covering all years since 1999. In this paper, we explain the central properties of this dataset and demonstrate its usefulness for research.

The Research Data Centre at the Institute for Employment Research (RDC-IAB) has been offering high-quality administrative and survey data on the German labour market for 15 years and has become one of the most important locations worldwide for researchers interested in data for labour market research. This article provides an overview of the RDC-IAB, including its data and access modes. The article presents two datasets in more detail: the Sample of Integrated Employment Biographies, a classic dataset, and the Linked Personnel Panel, a new dataset. Finally, this article provides insights into future infrastructure and data developments.

We provide a concise introduction to a household-panel data infrastructure that provides the international research community with longitudinal data of private households in Germany since 1984: the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We demonstrate the comparative strength of the SOEP data in answering economically-relevant questions by highlighting its diverse and impactful applications throughout the field.

The Panel on Household Finances (PHF) has established itself as one of the leading sources of microdata on households’ wealth in Germany since its inception in 2010. Over the last ten years, more than 7,583 households have participated in the surveys in 2010–11, 2014 and 2017, many of them taking part more than once (3,734 households). This paper provides an overview of the contents, main methodological aspects and use of the PHF data. It also highlights differences to other surveys and addresses how the survey may develop in the future.

The development and conditions of the housing market are an important part of economic research, receiving growing attention also in Germany. The RWI-GEO-RED dataset covers data for the German residential housing market from 2007 onwards on 1 km² level and closes the gap for small-scale, nationwide and up-to-date housing data for Germany. The data has a large potential in analyzing the real estate market itself or to evaluate policy interventions through treatments on small regional levels. Prominent examples are the closing of nuclear power plants and the German rent control. The dataset can be used on its own but also has a large potential for combination with different data. The dataset is provided by the FDZ Ruhr at RWI that hosts small-scale regional data for Germany. The data can be obtained for scientific research as scientific use file.