Do Wealth Shocks Matter for the Life Satisfaction of the Elderly? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study
This note studies the determinants of life satisfaction for the elderly and near-elderly in the U.S., using data from the Health and Retirement Study. The econometric analysis exploits the 2008-09 financial crisis as a source of exogenous variation in wealth, caused by a long-lasting decrease in ass...
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Published in | IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Paper |
Language | English |
Published |
St. Louis
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
01.01.2020
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Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | This note studies the determinants of life satisfaction for the elderly and near-elderly in the U.S., using data from the Health and Retirement Study. The econometric analysis exploits the 2008-09 financial crisis as a source of exogenous variation in wealth, caused by a long-lasting decrease in asset prices. Although absolute changes in wealth are not found to systematically affect individuals' well-being, losing 60% or more of the pre-crisis wealth negatively impacted measures of life satisfaction. |
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