The Course of Subjective Well-Being over the Life Cycle

This paper deals with the relationship between subjective well-being and ageing in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The baseline results confirm the U-shaped relationship between life satisfaction and age, which has been found in many case studies by economists and others. Furthermore, the functional flexibility allows us to detect a second turning point later in life. Finally, some methodological issues are discussed and robustness checks are performed to further understand the observed relationship. The paper tries to emphasize the usefulness of the longitudinal set-up of the SOEP to examine life cycle patterns.