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The increasing value of education to health

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  • Goldman, Dana
  • Smith, James P.

Abstract

This paper assesses how the relationship between health and educational attainment has changed over the last three decades. We examine trends in disease prevalence and self-reported health using the US National Health Interview Survey for five chronic conditions--arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and lung diseases. The sample is limited to non-Hispanic Whites ages 40-64 to focus on the value of education and not changing representation of minority populations. We find that health benefits associated with additional schooling rose over time by more than ten percentage points as measured by self-reported health status. This can be attributed to both a growing disparity by education in the probability of having major chronic diseases during middle age, and better health outcomes for those with each disease. The value of education in achieving better health has increased over the last 25 years; both in protecting against onset of disease and promoting better health outcomes amongst those with a disease. Besides better access to health insurance, the more educated increasingly adapted better health behaviors, particularly not smoking and engaging in vigorous excercise, and reaped the benefits of improving medical technology. Rising health disparities by education are an important social concern which may require targeted interventions.

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  • Goldman, Dana & Smith, James P., 2011. "The increasing value of education to health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1728-1737, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:72:y:2011:i:10:p:1728-1737
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    2. Sanders, Jane E. & Fallon, Barbara, 2018. "Child welfare involvement and academic difficulties: Characteristics of children, families, and households involved with child welfare and experiencing academic difficulties," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 98-109.
    3. Farrukh Shahzad & Fahad Saleem & Qaiser Iqbal & Naheed Haque & Sajjad Haider & Muhammad Salman & Imran Masood & Mohamed Azmi Hassali & Shehla Iftikhar & Mohammad Bashaar & Tafseera Hashemi, 2018. "A Cross-Sectional Assessment of Health Literacy among Hypertensive Community of Quetta City, Pakistan," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 11(4), pages 8685-8693, December.
    4. Vincenzo Atella & Dana Goldman & Daniel McFadden, 2021. "Disparate ageing: The role of education and socioeconomic gradients in future health and disability in an international context," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(S1), pages 3-10, November.
    5. Aidan R. Vining & David L. Weimer, 2019. "The Value of High School Graduation in the United States: Per-Person Shadow Price Estimates for Use in Cost–Benefit Analysis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Dana P. Goldman & Peter R. Orszag, 2014. "The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy: Using the Future Elderly Model to Estimate Implications for Social Security and Medicare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 230-233, May.
    7. Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2014. "The long lasting effects of education on old age health: Evidence of gender differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 129-138.
    8. Ameed Saabneh, 2015. "Ethnic Health Inequalities in Unequal Societies: Morbidity Gaps Between Palestinians and Jews in Israel," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 445-466, October.
    9. Perelman, Julian, 2014. "Are chronic diseases related to height? Results from the Portuguese National Health Interview Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 56-66.
    10. Setti Rais Ali & Paul Dourgnon & Lise Rochaix, 2018. "Social Capital or Education: What Matters Most to Cut Time to Diagnosis?," Working Papers halshs-01703170, HAL.
    11. Ma, Yuanyuan & Nolan, Anne & Smith, James P., 2018. "The value of education to health: Evidence from Ireland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 14-25.
    12. Clifford, Brendan & Wilson, Andrew & Harris, Patrick, 2019. "Homelessness, health and the policy process: A literature review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(11), pages 1125-1132.

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