Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51769 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5785
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Antidepressants as a commodity have been remarkably little-studied by economists. This study shows in new data for 27 European countries that 8% of people (and 10% of those middle-aged) take antidepressants each year. The probability of antidepressant use is greatest among those who are middle-aged, female, unemployed, poorly educated, and divorced or separated. A hill-shaped age pattern is found. The adjusted probability of using antidepressants reaches a peak - approximately doubling - in people's late 40s. This finding is consistent with, and provides a new and independent form of corroboration of, recent claims in the research literature that human well-being follows a U-shape through life.
Subjects: 
well-being
aging
mental health
depression
happiness
Easterlin paradox
JEL: 
I1
I12
I3
I31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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