Compulsory Schooling Reforms, Education and Mortality in Twentieth Century Europe
Abstract
Education yields substantial non-monetary benefits, but the size of these gains is still debated. Previous studies, for example, report contradictory effects of education and compulsory schooling on mortality – ranging from zero to large mortality reductions. Using data from 19 compulsory schooling reforms implemented in Europe during the twentieth century, we quantify the mean mortality effect and explore its dispersion across gender, time and countries. We find that men benefit from compulsory education both in the shorter and longer run. In contrast, compulsory schooling reforms have little or no effect on mortality for women.Download Info
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 6403.Length: 47 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2012
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6403
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Related research
Keywords: compulsory schooling; education; mortality; Europe;Other versions of this item:
- Gathmann, Christina & Jürges, Hendrik & Reinhold, Steffen, 2012. "Compulsory Schooling Reforms, Education and Mortality in Twentieth Century Europe," Working Papers 12-04, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
- Christina Gathmann & Hendrik Jürges & Steffen Reinhold, 2012. "Compulsory Schooling Reforms, Education and Mortality in Twentieth Century Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 3755, CESifo Group Munich.
- I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
- I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
- I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2012-03-21 (All new papers)
- NEP-CWA-2012-03-21 (Central & Western Asia)
- NEP-DEM-2012-03-21 (Demographic Economics)
- NEP-EDU-2012-03-21 (Education)
- NEP-HIS-2012-03-21 (Business, Economic & Financial History)
- NEP-LAB-2012-03-21 (Labour Economics)
References
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