Adult children's human capital accumulation and parents' risky behaviors: Evidence from the higher education expansion in China

This study investigates the upward intergenerational effects of adult children's high-level human capital accumulation on their older parents' risky behaviors. By exploiting the large-scale higher education expansion in China and applying the Treatment Effects Model, we find that children's higher education leads to a significant reduction in their parents' cigarette smoking. However, such effects cannot be found when it comes to an education increase triggered by the compulsory education popularization. These behavior-modifying effects are more pronounced among fathers and less advantaged families, and sons and firstborns within the family play a more effective role in generating such effects. Further evidence is provided for several underlying mechanisms, including increased security in life, more health knowledge, and rural-to-urban migration for older parents. Our findings indicate an about 8.41% contribution to the declining smoking prevalence since the late 1990s, and also imply narrowing health inequality among the older population in the long run.