Self-perceived age categorization as a determinant of the old age boundary

Using data from the European Social Survey, we investigate the influence of individuals' self-perceptions of being a member of an age group on their assessment of the beginning of ‘old age'. The proper examination of this relationship calls for the consideration of the effects of age and gender as well as the fact that people who concur that a boundary for old age exists (thus provide a numerical response to the relevant survey question) constitute a non-random subsample of the population with respect to the outcome of interest. Therefore, the econometric work features a two-equation selection model that jointly estimates the ‘Old age boundary' and the ‘Numerical response' equations. Our finding is that the two equations are in fact correlated, and – along with age and gender – self-perceived age categorization has a significant effect on the subjective old age boundary. People who categorize themselves in younger age groups than others of the same chronological age have higher old age boundaries.