IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v272y2021ics0277953621000447.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The implications of changing education distributions for life expectancy gradients

Author

Listed:
  • Hendi, Arun S.
  • Elo, Irma T.
  • Martikainen, Pekka

Abstract

Recent research has proposed that shifting education distributions across cohorts are influencing estimates of educational gradients in mortality. We use data from the United States and Finland covering four decades to explore this assertion. We base our analysis around our new finding: a negative logarithmic relationship between relative education and relative mortality. This relationship holds across multiple age groups, both sexes, two very different countries, and time periods spanning four decades. The inequality parameters from this model indicate increasing relative mortality differentials over time. We use these findings to develop a method that allows us to compute life expectancy for any given segment of the education distribution (e.g., education quintiles). We apply this method to Finnish and American data to compute life expectancy gradients that are adjusted for changes in the education distribution. In Finland, these distribution-adjusted education differentials in life expectancy between the top and bottom education quintiles have increased by two years for men, and remained stable for women between 1971 and 2010. Similar distribution-adjusted estimates for the U.S. suggest that educational disparities in life expectancy increased by 3.3 years for non-Hispanic white men and 3.0 years for non-Hispanic white women between the 1980s and 2000s. For men and women, respectively, these differentials between the top and bottom education quintiles are smaller than the differentials between the top and bottom education categories by 18% and 39% in the U.S. and by 39% and 100% in Finland. Had the relative inequality parameters of mortality governing the Finnish and U.S. populations remained constant at their earliest period values, the difference in life expectancy between the top and bottom education quintiles would – because of overall mortality reductions – have declined moderately. The findings suggest that educational expansion may bias estimates of trends in educational differences in life expectancy upwards.

Suggested Citation

  • Hendi, Arun S. & Elo, Irma T. & Martikainen, Pekka, 2021. "The implications of changing education distributions for life expectancy gradients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:272:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621000447
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113712
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621000447
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113712?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petter Lundborg & Carl Hampus Lyttkens & Paul Nystedt, 2016. "The Effect of Schooling on Mortality: New Evidence From 50,000 Swedish Twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1135-1168, August.
    2. Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2005. "The Relationship Between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 189-221.
    3. Olof Östergren & Olle Lundberg & Barbara Artnik & Matthias Bopp & Carme Borrell & Ramune Kalediene & Mall Leinsalu & Pekka Martikainen & Enrique Regidor & Maica Rodríguez-Sanz & Rianne de Gelder & Joh, 2017. "Educational expansion and inequalities in mortality—A fixed-effects analysis using longitudinal data from 18 European populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Goldring, Thomas & Lange, Fabian & Richards-Shubik, Seth, 2016. "Testing for changes in the SES-mortality gradient when the distribution of education changes too," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 120-130.
    5. Arun S. Hendi, 2017. "Trends in Education-Specific Life Expectancy, Data Quality, and Shifting Education Distributions: A Note on Recent Research," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1203-1213, June.
    6. Jere Behrman & Hans-Peter Kohler & Vibeke Jensen & Dorthe Pedersen & Inge Petersen & Paul Bingley & Kaare Christensen, 2011. "Does More Schooling Reduce Hospitalization and Delay Mortality? New Evidence Based on Danish Twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1347-1375, November.
    7. Jennifer Montez & Robert Hummer & Mark Hayward, 2012. "Educational Attainment and Adult Mortality in the United States: A Systematic Analysis of Functional Form," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 315-336, February.
    8. Mackenbach, J.P. & Kunst, A.E. & Groenhof, F. & Borgan, J.-K. & Costa, G. & Faggiano, F. & Józan, P. & Leinsalu, M. & Martikainen, P. & Rychtarikova, J. & Valkonen, T., 1999. "Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality among women and among men: An international study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(12), pages 1800-1806.
    9. John Bound & Arline T. Geronimus & Javier M. Rodriguez & Timothy A. Waidmann, "undated". "Measuring Recent Apparent Declines in Longevity: The Role of Increasing Educational Attainment," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 0c715b1386df45edb4d21d33c, Mathematica Policy Research.
    10. Mackenbach, Johan P. & Kunst, Anton E., 1997. "Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: An overview of available measures illustrated with two examples from Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 757-771, March.
    11. Montez, J.K. & Zajacova, A., 2014. "Why is life expectancy declining among low-educated women in the United States?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(10), pages 5-7.
    12. Montez, J.K. & Zajacova, A., 2013. "Trends in mortality risk by education level and cause of death among US White Women from 1986 to 2006," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(3), pages 473-479.
    13. Jessica Y. Ho, 2017. "The Contribution of Drug Overdose to Educational Gradients in Life Expectancy in the United States, 1992–2011," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1175-1202, June.
    14. Hayward, Mark D. & Hummer, Robert A. & Sasson, Isaac, 2015. "Trends and group differences in the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality: Implications for understanding education's causal influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 8-18.
    15. Irma T. Elo & Pekka Martikainen & Kirsten P. Smith, 2006. "Socioeconomic differentials in mortality in Finland and the United States: the role of education and income," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 179-203, June.
    16. Backlund, Eric & Sorlie, Paul D. & Johnson, Norman J., 1999. "A comparison of the relationships of education and income with mortality: the national longitudinal mortality study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(10), pages 1373-1384, November.
    17. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sanchez-Romero, Miguel & Schuster, Philip & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2021. "Redistributive effects of pension reforms: Who are the winners and losers?," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 06/2021, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adriana Lleras-Muney & Joseph Price & Dahai Yue, 2020. "The Association Between Educational Attainment and Longevity using Individual Level Data from the 1940 Census," NBER Working Papers 27514, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jennifer Karas Montez & Kaitlyn Barnes, 2016. "The Benefits of Educational Attainment for U.S. Adult Mortality: Are they Contingent on the Broader Environment?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(1), pages 73-100, February.
    3. Andrew Halpern-Manners & Jonas Helgertz & John Robert Warren & Evan Roberts, 2020. "The Effects of Education on Mortality: Evidence From Linked U.S. Census and Administrative Mortality Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1513-1541, August.
    4. Elizabeth M. Lawrence & Richard G. Rogers & Anna Zajacova, 2016. "Educational Attainment and Mortality in the United States: Effects of Degrees, Years of Schooling, and Certification," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(4), pages 501-525, August.
    5. 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.
    6. Hayward, Mark D. & Hummer, Robert A. & Sasson, Isaac, 2015. "Trends and group differences in the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality: Implications for understanding education's causal influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 8-18.
    7. Jennifer Karas Montez & Anna Zajacova & Mark D. Hayward & Steven H. Woolf & Derek Chapman & Jason Beckfield, 2019. "Educational Disparities in Adult Mortality Across U.S. States: How Do They Differ, and Have They Changed Since the Mid-1980s?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 621-644, April.
    8. Lleras-Muney, Adriana & Price, Joseph & Yue, Dahai, 2022. "The association between educational attainment and longevity using individual-level data from the 1940 census," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. Kai Hong & Peter A. Savelyev & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 371-400.
    10. Atticus Bolyard & Peter Savelyev, 2021. "Understanding the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score and its Interactions with SES in Determining Health in Young Adulthood," Working Papers 2021-026, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    11. Yuliana Levchenko & Andrew Fenelon, 2022. "How Tooth Loss Disrupts the Education Gradient in Mortality Risk among US-Born and Foreign-Born Adults," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 811-823, June.
    12. Leive, Adam A. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2021. "Has mortality risen disproportionately for the least educated?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Kaestner, Robert & Schiman, Cuiping & Ward, Jason, 2020. "Education and health over the life cycle," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Savelyev, Peter A. & Ward, Benjamin C. & Krueger, Robert F. & McGue, Matt, 2022. "Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Michael Kuhn & Alexia Prskawetz & Uwe Sunde, 2014. "Health, education, and retirement over the prolonged life cycle: a selective survey of recent research," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22.
    16. Bethany Everett & David Rehkopf & Richard Rogers, 2013. "The Nonlinear Relationship Between Education and Mortality: An Examination of Cohort, Race/Ethnic, and Gender Differences," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(6), pages 893-917, December.
    17. Behrman, Jere R. & Xiong, Yanyan & Zhang, Junsen, 2015. "Cross-sectional schooling-health associations misrepresented causal schooling effects on adult health and health-related behaviors: Evidence from the Chinese Adults Twins Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 190-197.
    18. Roland Rau & Gabriele Doblhammer & Vladimir Canudas-Romo & Zhang Zhen, 2008. "Cause-of-Death Contributions to Educational Inequalities in Mortality in Austria between 1981/1982 and 1991/1992," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 265-286, September.
    19. Yana C. Vierboom, 2020. "Trends in Alcohol-Related Mortality by Educational Attainment in the U.S., 2000–2017," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(1), pages 77-97, February.
    20. Shannon M. Monnat, 2020. "Trends in U.S. Working-Age non-Hispanic White Mortality: Rural–Urban and Within-Rural Differences," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(5), pages 805-834, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:272:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621000447. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.