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Education and cancer risk

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  • Leuven, Edwin
  • Plug, Erik
  • Rønning, Marte

Abstract

There exists a strong educational gradient in cancer risk, which has been documented in a wide range of populations. Yet relatively little is known about the extent to which education is causally linked to cancer incidence and mortality. This paper exploits a large social experiment where an education reform expanded compulsory schooling during the 1960s in Norway. The reform led to a discontinuous increase in educational attainment, which we exploit to estimate the effect of the reform on various cancer outcomes. We find little evidence that education affects overall cancer risk, as well as the most common cancer sites in isolation with two exceptions: The compulsory school reform lowered the risk of lung and prostate cancers for men. These protective effects are consistent with the idea that education reduced smoking behavior and increased the uptake of prostate cancer screening.

Suggested Citation

  • Leuven, Edwin & Plug, Erik & Rønning, Marte, 2016. "Education and cancer risk," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:43:y:2016:i:c:p:106-121
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2016.06.006
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    Cited by:

    1. Govert E. Bijwaard & Mikko Myrskylä & Per Tynelius & Finn Rasmussen, 2017. "Educational gain in cause-specific mortality: accounting for confounders," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2017-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    2. Hamad, Rita & Elser, Holly & Tran, Duy C. & Rehkopf, David H. & Goodman, Steven N., 2018. "How and why studies disagree about the effects of education on health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of compulsory schooling laws," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 168-178.
    3. Bijwaard, Govert E. & Myrskylä, Mikko & Tynelius, Per & Rasmussen, Finn, 2017. "Educational gains in cause-specific mortality: Accounting for cognitive ability and family-level confounders using propensity score weighting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 49-56.
    4. Titus J. Galama & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Hans van Kippersluis, 2018. "The Effect of Education on Health and Mortality: A Review of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence," NBER Working Papers 24225, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Markus Gehrsitz & Morgan C. Williams, "undated". "The Effects of Compulsory Schooling on Health and Hospitalization over the Life Cycle," Working Papers 2303, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics, revised May 2020.
    6. Thang Dang, 2018. "Do the more educated utilize more health care services? Evidence from Vietnam using a regression discontinuity design," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 277-299, September.
    7. Grytten, Jostein & Skau, Irene & Sørensen, Rune, 2020. "Who dies early? Education, mortality and causes of death in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Causality; Health; Cancer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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