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Does the U-shape Pattern in Life Cycle Satisfaction Obscure Reality? A Response to Blanchflower

Author

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  • Morgan, Robson
  • O'Connor, Kelsey J.

Abstract

This is a response to a recently published comment by David G. Blanchflower (2020a) regarding the earlier paper entitled “Experienced Life Cycle Satisfaction in Europe†(Morgan and O’Connor, 2017), hereafter MO. Blanchflower critiques MO, obtaining a distinct pattern of life satisfaction over the life cycle using a different sample. We take this distinction as further supporting the main conclusion in MO, that more rigor should be applied in assessing the relation between life satisfaction and age, especially in choosing controls and by using non-parametric methods. Our response speaks to the broader literature. Many previous studies limit the number of possible shapes by imposing a quadratic relation, or describe the relation in quadratic terms. MO describes the pattern between life satisfaction and age in more detail and offers evidence, immune to Blanchflower’s critique, that the U-shape relation is in fact not everywhere.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan, Robson & O'Connor, Kelsey J., 2020. "Does the U-shape Pattern in Life Cycle Satisfaction Obscure Reality? A Response to Blanchflower," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(2), pages 201-206, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:jnlrbe:105.00000122
    DOI: 10.1561/105.000001122
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. David G. Blanchflower & Carol L. Graham, 2022. "The Mid-Life Dip in Well-Being: a Critique," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 287-344, May.
    2. Biermann, Philipp & Bitzer, Jürgen & Gören, Erkan, 2022. "The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Estimating within and between effects simultaneously," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    3. Christoph K. Becker & Stefan T. Trautmann, 2022. "Does Happiness Increase in Old Age? Longitudinal Evidence from 20 European Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3625-3654, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Life satisfaction; Subjective well-being; Aging; Lifecycle; Life-course; Non-parametric methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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