WELL-BEING OVER THE LIFE SPAN: SEMIPARAMETRIC EVIDENCE FROM BRITISH AND GERMAN LONGITUDINAL DATA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wunder, Christoph; Wiencierz, Andrea; Schwarze, Johannes; Kuechenhoff, Helmut
• 署名单位: University of Erlangen Nuremberg; University of Munich; Otto Friedrich University Bamberg; Leibniz Association; DIW Berlin - Deutsches Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00222
• 发表日期: 2013-03
• 页码: 154-167
• 关键词: temporal variation; job-satisfaction; negative affect; cancer rates; age period; panel-data; HEALTH; regression; judgments; selection

摘要

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.