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There is a mid-life low in well-being in Germany

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  • Blanchflower, David G.
  • Piper, Alan

Abstract

Kassenboehmer and Haisken-DeNew (2012) claim that there is no well-being midlife low in Germany, when controlling for fixed effects, respondent experience and interviewer characteristics in the German Socio-Economic Panel, 1994–2006. We re-estimate with a longer run of years using their methods and find that well-being declines to a low in midlife and is neither flat nor trivial.

Suggested Citation

  • Blanchflower, David G. & Piper, Alan, 2022. "There is a mid-life low in well-being in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:214:y:2022:i:c:s016517652200088x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2022.110430
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
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    6. Blanchflower, David G., 2020. "Unhappiness and age," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 461-488.
    7. Stefano Bartolini & Ennio Bilancini & Francesco Sarracino, 2013. "Predicting the Trend of Well-Being in Germany: How Much Do Comparisons, Adaptation and Sociability Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 169-191, November.
    8. Andrew E. Clark, 2019. "Born to Be Mild? Cohort Effects Don’t (Fully) Explain Why Well-Being Is U-Shaped in Age," Springer Books, in: Mariano Rojas (ed.), The Economics of Happiness, chapter 0, pages 387-408, Springer.
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    10. Jan C. van Ours, 2021. "What a drag it is getting old? Mental health and loneliness beyond age 50," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(31), pages 3563-3576, July.
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    1. Alan Piper & David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2023. "Is pain associated with subsequent job loss? A panel study for Germany," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 141-158, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Age; Aging; Life satisfaction; Interviewer characteristics; Interviewee experience; Fixed effects; Panel analysis; SOEP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods

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