“中年危机”的经济学分析——基于幸福感数据的证据

The Economics of Mid-life Crisis:Evidence Based on Happiness Data

"中年危机"是一种重要的社会现象。本文利用中国居民调查数据,考察了居民幸福感的"中年危机"。研究发现,幸福感与年龄之间存在显著的U形关系,与青年人相比,中年人的幸福感平均降低约0.2,约为幸福感平均值的5.5%。"中年危机"显著地受到个体经济特征的影响,无工作、无住房以及中等收入群体的中年危机更严重。关于收入对不同年龄群体幸福感的边际分析表明,无论是基于功利主义还是基于优先权的福利主义视角,照顾中年危机中相对弱势群体的公共政策都有利于提高居民的整体幸福感。

The mid-life crisis is an important social phenomenon.Based on the survey data of Chinese residents,this paper examines the mid-life crisis of happiness.It is found that there is a significant U-shaped relationship between happiness and age,and the average happiness of middle-aged people is lower by about 0.2 compared with that of young people,which is about 5.5 percent of the overall average happiness.The mid-life crisis is significantly influenced by individual economic characteristics,and the middle-income group and people with no jobs or no housing have more serious mid-life crisis.The marginal analysis of income on the well-being of different age groups shows that public policies that take care of relatively vulnerable groups in the mid-life crisis are conducive to improving the overall well-being of the population,whether based on a utilitarianism or prioritarianism perspective.