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Human Well-Being over the Life Cycle: Longitudinal Evidence from a 20-Year Panel

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Author Info
Bert G.M. Van Landeghem

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Abstract

This paper uses longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP) to analyze the course of subjective well-being over the life cycle. The long time dimension offers an opportunity to disentangle ageing effects from fixed birth co- hort effects. The paper ¯finds that the U-shaped pattern of life satisfaction over age is less supported in a longitudinal analysis, and that the observed trajectory can vary across model specifications. Moreover, assets and material well-being seem to play an important role in determining the course of satisfaction over life time. The upsurge of happiness after mid-life seems to be more robust to model specifications, which might imply that the latter is inherent to mankind.

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File URL: http://www.econ.kuleuven.ac.be/licos/DP/DP2008/DP213.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven in its series LICOS Discussion Papers with number 21308.

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Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:lic:licosd:21308

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Related research
Keywords: subjective well-being; life cycle happiness; ageing; birth cohorts; U-shape; German Socio-Economic Panel;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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  3. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi & Knight, John, 2007. "Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 69-90, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Alan B. Krueger & David A. Schkade, 2007. "The Reliability of Subjective Well-Being Measures," IZA Discussion Papers 2724, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew Oswald, 2007. "Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?," NBER Working Papers 12935, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Andrew J. Oswald & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2007. "Death, Happiness, and the Calculation of Compensatory Damages," IZA Discussion Papers 3159, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  7. Mathias Sommer, 2005. "Trends in German households’ portfolio behavior - assessing the importance of age- and cohort-effects," MEA discussion paper series 05082, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Fafchamps, Marcel & Shilpi, Forhad, 2008. "Subjective welfare, isolation, and relative consumption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 43-60, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Paul Frijters & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Michael A. Shields, 2004. "Money Does Matter! Evidence from Increasing Real Income and Life Satisfaction in East Germany Following Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 730-740, June. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Theodossiou, I., 1998. "The effects of low-pay and unemployment on psychological well-being: A logistic regression approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 85-104, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert J. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2001. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 615, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Andrew J. Oswald & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2006. "Does Happiness Adapt? A Longitudinal Study of Disability with Implications for Economists and Judges," IZA Discussion Papers 2208, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Mathias Sommer, 2005. "Trends in German households’ portfolio behavior - assessing the importance of age- and cohort-effects," MEA discussion paper series 05082, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
  21. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2003. "Is the Structure of Happiness Equations the Same in Poor and Rich Countries? The Case of South Africa," Development and Comp Systems 0309003, EconWPA, revised 06 Nov 2003. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  22. Andrew E. Clark & Andrew J. Oswald, 2006. "The curved relationship between subjective well-being and age," PSE Working Papers 2006-29, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  23. Senik, Claudia, 2004. "When information dominates comparison: Learning from Russian subjective panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 2099-2123, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch, 2006. "Some Uses of Happiness Data in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2005. "Neighbors as Negatives: Relative Earnings and Well-Being," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 120(3), pages 963-1002, August.
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  26. Kahneman, Daniel & Thaler, Richard H, 1991. "Economic Analysis and the Psychology of Utility: Applications to Compensation Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 341-46, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
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  1. Wunder, Christoph & Wiencierz, Andrea & Schwarze, Johannes & Küchenhoff, Helmut & Kleyer, Sara & Bleninger, Philipp, 2009. "Well-Being over the Life Span: Semiparametric Evidence from British and German Longitudinal Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4155, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-26.


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