@techreport{NBERw12935,
 title = "Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?",
 author = "David G. Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "12935",
 year = "2007",
 month = "February",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w12935",
 abstract = {Recent research has argued that psychological well-being is U-shaped through the life cycle.  The difficulty with such a claim is that there are likely to be omitted cohort effects (earlier generations may have been born in, say, particularly good or bad times).  Hence the apparent U may be an artifact.  Using data on approximately 500,000 Americans and Europeans, this paper designs a test that makes it possible to allow for different birth-cohorts.  A robust U-shape of happiness in age is found.  Ceteris paribus, well-being reaches a minimum, on both sides of the Atlantic, in people's mid to late 40s.  The paper also shows that in the United States the well-being of successive birth-cohorts has gradually fallen through time.  In Europe, newer birth-cohorts are happier.},
}