@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp17586,
            	author={Kraats, Coen van de and Galama, Titus and Lindeboom, Maarten and Deng, Zichen},
            	title={Why Life Gets Better After Age 50, for Some: Mental Well-Being and the Social Norm of Work},
            	year={2024},
	month={Dec},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={17586},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17586},
	abstract={We provide evidence that the social norm (expectation) that adults work has a substantial detrimental causal effect on the mental well-being of unemployed men in mid-life, as substantial as, e.g., the detriment of being widowed. As their peers in age retire and the social norm weakens, the mental well-being of the unemployed improves. Using data on individuals aged 50+ from 10 European countries, we identify the social norm of work effect using exogenous variation in the earliest eligibility age for old-age public pensions across countries and birth cohorts.},
	keywords={mental well-being;social norm of work;retirement institution},
            }