IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedhep/y2008iqiip2-16nv.32no.2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does education improve health? A reexamination of the evidence from compulsory schooling laws

Author

Listed:
  • Bhashkar Mazumder

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of compulsory schooling laws early in the twentieth century on long-term health. The author finds no compelling evidence for a causal link between education and health using this research design. Further, the results suggest that only a small fraction of health conditions are affected by education, and several of those are conditions, such as sight and hearing, where economic theories don?t appear to be relevant.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhashkar Mazumder, 2008. "Does education improve health? A reexamination of the evidence from compulsory schooling laws," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 32(Q II), pages 2-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhep:y:2008:i:qii:p:2-16:n:v.32no.2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/economic_perspectives/2008/ep_2qtr2008_part1_mazumder.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1997. "The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 729-758.
    3. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence Katz, 2003. "Mass Secondary Schooling and the State," NBER Working Papers 10075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Dana P. Goldman & James P. Smith, 2004. "Can Patient Self-Management Help Explain the SES Health Gradient?," HEW 0403004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Daron Acemoglu & Joshua Angrist, 2001. "How Large Are Human Capital Externalities? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15, pages 9-74, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    7. Johnson Rucker C & Schoeni Robert F, 2011. "The Influence of Early-Life Events on Human Capital, Health Status, and Labor Market Outcomes Over the Life Course," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-57, September.
    8. 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.
    9. repec:pri:cheawb:adriana_healthinequality is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Sherry Glied & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2003. "Health Inequality, Education and Medical Innovation," NBER Working Papers 9738, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Anne Case & Darren Lubotsky & Christina Paxson, 2002. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1308-1334, December.
    12. Leigh, J. Paul & Dhir, Rachna, 1997. "Schooling and frailty among seniors," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 45-57, February.
    13. repec:cdl:indrel:243315 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Douglas Almond & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2006. "How did schooling laws improve long-term health and lower mortality?," Working Paper Series WP-06-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. David M. Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 12352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    4. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Does Higher Education Reduce Mortality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Chile," SocArXiv 5s2px, Center for Open Science.
    5. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    6. Braakmann, Nils, 2011. "The causal relationship between education, health and health related behaviour: Evidence from a natural experiment in England," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 753-763, July.
    7. Shin-Yi Chou & Jin-Tan Liu & Michael Grossman & Ted Joyce, 2010. "Parental Education and Child Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 33-61, January.
    8. Jensen, Robert & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2012. "Does staying in school (and not working) prevent teen smoking and drinking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 644-657.
    9. Park, Cheolsung & Kang, Changhui, 2008. "Does education induce healthy lifestyle?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1516-1531, December.
    10. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2009. "How large are returns to schooling? Hint: Money isn't everything," NBER Working Papers 15339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Ingmar, SCHUMACHER, 2006. "On optimality, endogeneous discounting and wealth accumulation," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2006058, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    12. Gathmann, Christina & Jürges, Hendrik & Reinhold, Steffen, 2015. "Compulsory schooling reforms, education and mortality in twentieth century Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 74-82.
    13. O'Sullivan, Vincent, 2012. "The Long Term Health Effects of Education," Papers WP429, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    14. Massimiliano Bratti & Alfonso Miranda, 2010. "Non‐pecuniary returns to higher education: the effect on smoking intensity in the UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(8), pages 906-920, August.
    15. 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.
    16. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2009. "Endogenous discounting via wealth, twin-peaks and the role of technology," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 78-80, May.
    17. Baltagi, Badi H. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Karatas, Haci M., 2019. "The effect of education on health: Evidence from the 1997 compulsory schooling reform in Turkey," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 205-221.
    18. Dursun, Bahadır & Cesur, Resul & Mocan, Naci, 2018. "The Impact of Education on Health Outcomes and Behaviors in a Middle-Income, Low-Education Country," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-114.
    19. Marshall Makate, 2016. "Education Policy and Under-Five Survival in Uganda: Evidence from the Demographic and Health Surveys," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, October.
    20. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace & Shields, Michael A. & Suziedelyte, Agne, 2015. "Education and health knowledge: Evidence from UK compulsory schooling reform," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 92-100.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education - Economic aspects; Health;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:fip:fedhep:y:2008:i:qii:p:2-16:n:v.32no.2. 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: Lauren Wiese (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbchus.html .

    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.