Publication: Subjective Well-Being across the Lifespan in Europe and Central Asia
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2015-07
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2015-08-17
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Abstract
This paper uses data from the Integrated Values Survey, the Life in Transition Survey, and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to analyze the relation between age and subjective well-being in the Europe and Central Asia region. Although the results generally confirm the findings of previous studies of a U-shaped relation between subjective well-being and age for most of the lifecycle, the paper also finds that well-being declines again after people reach their 60s and 70s, giving rise to an S-shaped relation across the entire lifespan. This pattern generally remains robust for most of the cross-sectional and panel analyses. Hence, despite significant heterogeneity in the pattern of well-being across the lifespan in the Europe and Central Asia region, the paper does not observe high levels of cross-country or cross-cohort variation.
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“Bauer, Jan Michael; Levin, Victoria; Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria; Nie, Peng; Sousa-Poza, Alfonso. 2015. Subjective Well-Being across the Lifespan in Europe and Central Asia. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7378. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22462 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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