期刊名称：DIW Diskussionspapiere / Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Berlin
出版年度：2009
卷号：2009
出版社：Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Berlin
摘要：This paper applies semiparametric regression models using penalized splines to
investigate the profile of well-being over the life span. Splines have the
advantage that they do not require a priori assumptions about the form of the
curve. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the German
Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), the analysis shows a common, quite similar,
age-specific pattern of life satisfaction for both Britain and Germany that can
be characterized by three age stages. In the first stage, life satisfaction
declines until approximately the fifth life decade. In the second age stage,
well-being clearly increases and has a second turning point (maximum) after
which well-being decreases in the third age stage. Several reasons for the
three-phase pattern are discussed. We point to the fact that neither polynomial
functions of the third nor the fourth degree describe the relationship
adequately: polynomials locate the minimum and the maximum imprecisely. In
addition, our analysis discusses the indistinguishability of age, period, and
cohort effects: we propose estimating age-period models that control for cohort
effects including substantive variables, such as the life expectancy of the
birth cohort, and further observed socioeconomic characteristics in the
regression.
关键词：Subjective well-being, life satisfaction, semiparametric regression, penalized
splines, age-period model, age-cohort model
