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Effects of Education on Health across Countries

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (CST)

Grand Hyatt, Presidio C
Hosted By: Econometric Society
  • Chair: Adriana Lleras-Muney, University of California-Los Angeles

Effects of Education on Health: Contrasting Opportunities and Compulsory Schooling

Martin Karlsson
,
University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract

Education is as a paramount public policy instrument for enhancing health outcomes, yet the literature remains inconclusive on its causal impact. It has been suggested that the mixed results may stem from considering a diverse range of policies and contexts for identification, and that the small magnitudes typically reported are due to the bulk of the literature relying on compulsory schooling extensions. In this paper we scrutinise both statements within a fixed historical context. By combining estimates from a range of educational reforms with within-family fixed-effects designs, our meta-analytic approach provides empirical support for an overall causal effect of education on premature mortality (6.4 fewer deaths per 1,000 before age 69 per year of education; 95% CI: 1.7–11.0; baseline 89) and hospitalization (3.3 percent reduction in days in hospital; 95% CI: 2.6–4.0; baseline 42 days). The average causal effect is substantially smaller than the observational association and the positive health effects are concentrated in men. Stratifying by reform type we find evidence for heterogeneity across types of educational policies, with particularly large benefits from increased compulsory schooling.

The Effect of Access to College on Longevity: Evidence from U.S. Two-Year Public Colleges

Kevin Connolly
,
University of Chicago

Abstract

More than eight hundred two-year public colleges opened in the United States between 1920 and 1980, creating major differences in access to college by location and date of birth for otherwise similar people. Using the variation arising from these college openings, I estimate the causal effect of greater access to college on college attainment and health outcomes using linked Census and Social Security Administration data. The college openings led to about one-tenth of a year of additional college attainment on average for nearby college-age men and women. The openings resulted in 'democratization' and not 'diversion'—that is, to a higher probability of completing four years of college, as well as a 1.0 percentage-point increase in one’s likelihood of living past age 65.

Education and Late-Life Mortality: Evidence from School Reform in Japan

Hitoshi Shigeoka
,
Simon Fraser University and NBER

Abstract

We examine the mortality effects of a 1947 school reform in Japan, which extended compulsory schooling from primary to secondary school by up to 3 years. The abolition of secondary school fees also indicates that those affected by the reform likely came from disadvantaged families who could have benefited the most from schooling. Even in this relatively favorable setting, we fail to find that the reform improved later-life mortality up to 87 years of age, although it significantly increased years of schooling. This finding suggests limited health returns to schooling at the lower level of educational attainment.

Discussant(s)
Serena Canaan
,
Simon Fraser University
Kasey Buckles
,
University of Notre Dame
Adriana Lleras-Muney
,
University of California-Los Angeles
Hitoshi Shigeoka
,
Simon Fraser University and NBER
JEL Classifications
  • I1 - Health
  • J1 - Demographic Economics