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

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

March 15, 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

Volume: 95 , p.154 -167

DOI

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

ISSN

346535

Subjects

Notes

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*


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