Born to be mild? Cohort effects don't explain why well-being is U-shaped in age

Andrew Clark

PSE Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: The statistical analysis of cross-section data very often reveals a U-shaped relationship between subjective well-being and age. This paper uses fourteen waves of British panel data to distinguish between a pure life-cycle or aging effect, and a fixed cohort effect that depends on year of birth. Panel analysis controlling for fixed effects continues to produce a U-shaped relationship between well-being and age, although this U-shape is flatter for life satisfaction than for the GHQ measure of mental well-being. The pattern of the estimated cohort effects differs between the two well-being measures and, to an extent, by demographic group. In particular, those born earlier report more positive GHQ scores, controlling for their current age; this phenomenon is especially found for women.

Keywords: well-being; aging; cohort effects; panel analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00590307v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00590307v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Born to be mild? Cohort effects don't explain why well-being is U-shaped in age (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00590307

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in PSE Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().