Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle? / David G. Blanchflower, Andrew Oswald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blanchflower, David G.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Oswald, Andrew.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12935.

NBER working paper series no. w12935

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

Recent research has argued that psychological well-being is U-shaped through the life cycle. The difficulty with such a claim is that there are likely to be omitted cohort effects (earlier generations may have been born in, say, particularly good or bad times). Hence the apparent U may be an artifact. Using data on approximately 500,000 Americans and Europeans, this paper designs a test that makes it possible to allow for different birth-cohorts. A robust U-shape of happiness in age is found. Ceteris paribus, well-being reaches a minimum, on both sides of the Atlantic, in people's mid to late 40s. The paper also shows that in the United States the well-being of successive birth-cohorts has gradually fallen through time. In Europe, newer birth-cohorts are happier.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2007.