Journal Article

Well-being over the life span: semiparametric evidence from British and German longitudinal data

Authors

Publication date

Mar 2013

Abstract

This paper applies This paper applies semiparametric regression models using penalized splines to investigate the profile of well-being over the life span. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), the analysis shows a common, and quite similar, age-specific pattern of life satisfaction for both Britain and Germany that can be characterized by three age stages. The evidence suggests that the U-shaped profile is a good approximation of decreasing and increasing well-being in the first and second stage. After people reached their late 60s, however, a decline in well-being is found in the third stage.

Published in

Review of Economics and Statistics

Volume and page numbers

95 , 154 -167

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00222

ISSN

16

Subjects

Well Being and Life Course Analysis

Links

http://serlib0.essex.ac.uk/record=b1588265~S5

Notes

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