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Schooling and Health: The Cigarette Connection

In: Health Economics and Policy Selected Writings by Victor Fuchs

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  • VICTOR R. FUCHS

Abstract

Schooling is significantly correlated with health status, but is the relationship causal? This paper tests the hypothesis that schooling causes differences in an important health-affecting behavior: cigarette smoking. The most striking result is that for persons with 12 to 18 years of completed schooling, the strong negative relation between schooling and smoking observed at age 24 is accounted for by differences in smoking behavior at age 17, when all subjects were still in the same grade. Causality from schooling to smoking, and by implication from schooling to health, is rejected in favor of a ‘third variable’ hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor R. Fuchs, 2018. "Schooling and Health: The Cigarette Connection," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Health Economics and Policy Selected Writings by Victor Fuchs, chapter 9, pages 99-113, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:wschap:9789813232877_0009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fuch82-1, March.
    2. Thaler, Richard H & Shefrin, H M, 1981. "An Economic Theory of Self-Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 392-406, April.
    3. Paul Taubman & Sherwin Rosen, 1982. "Healthiness, Education, and Marital Status," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 121-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    5. Richard Auster & Irving Leveson & Deborah Sarachek, 1969. "The Production of Health, an Exploratory Study," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 4(4), pages 411-436.
    6. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Time Preference and Health: An Exploratory Study," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 93-120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Vogt, T.M. & Selvin, S. & Widdowson, G. & Hulley, S.B., 1977. "Expired air carbon monoxide and serum thiocyanate as objective measures of cigarette exposure," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 67(6), pages 545-549.
    8. Joseph P. Newhouse & Lindy J. Friedlander, 1980. "The Relationship between Medical Resources and Measures of Health: Some Additional Evidence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(2), pages 200-218.
    9. Fuchs, Victor R. (ed.), 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226267852, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health; Medical Care; Health Policy; Economics; Health Care Reform; Health Insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

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