In praise of panel surveys, a Sonder-Panel, and a Sonder-Panel-Papa

In this paper, we salute Gert Wagner and his work, focusing on his association with the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). To place Gert’s contributions in context, we argue first that household panel surveys deserve to be praised for what they contribute to science and to public policy, forming a crucial component in a portfolio of different types of longitudinal data. Second, we show that the SOEP is a very successful example of a household panel survey, comparing its characteristics and innovations with those of its counterparts from other countries. Our case is that the SOEP is truly special (it is a Sonder-Panel) – and Gert Wagner has been responsible for much of this success. He is truly a Sonder-Panel-Papa.