Between-Person Disparities in the Progression of Late-Life Well-Being

Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. In this chapter, we argue that focusing on a phase of life during which this positive picture does not necessarily prevail promises to help us better understand between-person disparities in the progression of late-life well-being. In a first step, we review empirical evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel and other large-scale longitudinal data sets to demonstrate that ubiquitous reports of a "stability-despite-loss phenomenon" of well-being do not generalize into years of life immediately preceding death. Instead, mean-level representations of the end of life are characterized by a rapid deterioration in well-being. In a second step, we highlight the vast heterogeneity in how people experience the last years and consider the role of biopsychosocial individual difference factors to account for such disparities. The select factors reviewed here include socio-demographic characteristics, cognitive fitness, pathology, and disability. In a third step, we argue that macro-contextual factors such as the social, service, and physical characteristics of the communities and societies people are living and dying in also profoundly shape the nature and progression of individual late-life well-being. Our conceptual reasoning forecasts some of the insights that can be gained by pursuing this line of research, but also underscores the challenges researchers must deal with

Reviewing Excess Liquidity Measures – A Comparison for Asset Markets

The conduct of US monetary policy is often accompanied by controversial debates on the adequacy of monetary conditions. These can result from different concepts of excess liquidity measures. The paper analyzes the theoretical and empirical information content of these concepts for asset markets. The analysis classifies, reviews and assesses measures of monetary conditions. For those that qualify as excess liquidity measures, the analysis continues with a comparison of the sources of imbalances and a discussion of the adequacy for asset markets. The theoretical results are cross-checked with empirical evidence. All excess liquidity measures are estimated and compared in the light of recent US asset bubbles. The analysis draws the following main conclusions. Firstly, not all measures of monetary conditions qualify as excess liquidity measure. Secondly, the increasing relevance of asset markets leads to growing distortions of excess liquidity measures. Thirdly, the choice of excess liquidity measure has influence on the assessment of monetary conditions in asset markets