Abstract
This paper studies mental health and loneliness in the Netherlands for individuals beyond age 50. The analysis is based on panel data over the period 2008 to 2018 and focuses on the effects of life events and ageing. It appears that mental health gets worse and loneliness increases if individuals lose their partner (through divorce or death) or become unemployed. On average, the mental health of males and high educated females improves at retirement. With respect to ageing, the main conclusions are that mental health improves while loneliness goes down at least up to the high 70s. From the perspective of mental health and loneliness, it does not seem to be a drag getting old.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3563-3576 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Applied Economics |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 31 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Feb 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. ?What a drag it is getting old? is the first line of the 1966 Rolling Stones song ?Mothers little helper?. A very preliminary version of the paper was presented at the July 2017 Australia National University workshop to honor Alison Booth?s economics career and transition to emeritus status. The author thanks participants of this workshop, participants of the 2019 ESPE-conference in Bath and an anonymous reviewer for their comments, Sanne Lin for her excellent research assistance and CentERdata (Tilburg University, The Netherlands) for making the LISS-data available for analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
