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Heterogeneity in the relationship between happiness and age: Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

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  • Gregori Baetschmann
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    Abstract

    This paper studies the evolution of life satisfaction over the life course in Germany. It clarifies the causal interpretation of the econometric model by discussing the choice of control variables and the underidentification between age, cohort and time effects. The empirical part analyzes the distribution of life satisfaction over the life course at the aggregated, subgroup and individual level. To the findings: On average, life satisfaction is mildly decreasing up to age fifty-five followed by a hump shape with a maximum at seventy. The analysis at the lower levels suggests that people differ in their life satisfaction trends, whereas the hump shape after age fifty-five is robust. No important differences between men and women are found. In contrast, education groups differ in their trends: highly educated people become happier over the life cycle, where life satisfaction decreases for less educated people.

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    File URL: http://www.econ.uzh.ch/static/wp/econwp047.pdf
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    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by Department of Economics - University of Zurich in its series ECON - Working Papers with number 047.

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    Date of creation: Nov 2011
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    Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:047

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    Keywords: Aging; life satisfaction; well-being; happiness methodology;

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    1. Wencke Gwozdz & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2010. "Ageing, Health and Life Satisfaction of the Oldest Old: An Analysis for Germany," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 397-417, July.
    2. Clark, Andrew E. & Etilé, Fabrice & Postel-Vinay, Fabien & Senik, Claudia & Van der Straeten, Karine, 2004. "Heterogeneity in Reported Well-Being: Evidence from Twelve European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 1339, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    3. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2008. "Happiness Inequality in the United States," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages S33-S79, 06.
    4. Frijters, Paul & Beatton, Tony, 2012. "The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 525-542.
    5. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, 07.
    6. Clark, Andrew E., 2007. "Born To Be Mild? Cohort Effects Don’t (Fully) Explain Why Well-Being Is U-Shaped in Age," IZA Discussion Papers 3170, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    7. David J. McKenzie, 2006. "Disentangling Age, Cohort and Time Effects in the Additive Model," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(4), pages 473-495, 08.
    8. Andrew E. Clark & Ed Diener & Yannis Georgellis & Richard E. Lucas, 2008. "Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 84, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. Bert G.M. Van Landeghem, 2008. "Human Well-Being over the Life Cycle: Longitudinal Evidence from a 20-Year Panel," LICOS Discussion Papers 21308, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    10. Adrian Bruhin & Rainer Winkelmann, 2007. "Happiness Functions with Preference Interdependence and Heterogeneity: The Case of Altruism within the Family," Working Papers 0702, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute, revised Feb 2008.
    11. Andrew Clark & Fabrice Etilé & Fabien Postel-Vinay & Claudia Sénik & Karine Van-Der-Straeten, 2004. "Heterogeneity in reported well-being:Evidence from twelve European countries," Working Papers hal-00242916, HAL.
    12. Fischer, Justina AV, 2009. "Happiness and age cycles – return to start…," MPRA Paper 15249, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Oliver Schilling, 2006. "Development of Life Satisfaction in Old Age: Another View on the "Paradox''," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 75(2), pages 241-271, 01.
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