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Life Expectancy and Schooling: New Insights from Cross-Country Data

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  • Hazan, Moshe

Abstract

I argue that distinguishing between life expectancy at birth and life expectancy beyond the crucial early childhood years affects the relationship between life expectancy and schooling in a meaningful way. In particular, I show that while the change in life expectancy at birth between 1960 and 1990 is positively correlated with percentage change in schooling, the change in life expectancy at age 5 is, at best, uncorrelated with percentage change in schooling. This evidence weakens the quantitative importance of increasing life horizon beyond the early crucial childhood years for formal acquisition of human capital.

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  • Hazan, Moshe, 2011. "Life Expectancy and Schooling: New Insights from Cross-Country Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 8524, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8524
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    2. von Gaessler, Anne Edle & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2016. "Optimal education in times of ageing: The dependency ratio in the Uzawa–Lucas growth model," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 125-142.
    3. Abdalali Monsef & Abolfazl Shahmohammadi Mehrjardi, 2015. "Determinants of Life Expectancy: A Panel Data Approach," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(11), pages 1251-1257, November.
    4. Jochimsen Beate & Raffer Christian, 2018. "Herausforderungen bei der Messung von Wohlfahrt," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 67(1), pages 63-100, May.
    5. Michael Kuhn & Alexia Prskawetz & Uwe Sunde, 2014. "Health, education, and retirement over the prolonged life cycle: a selective survey of recent research," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22.
    6. Mohammad Mainul Hoque & Elizabeth M. King & Claudio E. Montenegro & Peter F. Orazem, 2019. "Revisiting the relationship between longevity and lifetime education: global evidence from 919 surveys," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 551-589, April.
    7. Hoque,Mohammad Mainul & King,Elizabeth M. & Montenegro,Claudio E. & Orazem,Peter F., 2017. "Longevity and lifetime education : global evidence from 919 surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8175, The World Bank.
    8. Nuarpear Lekfuangfu, 2016. "Mortality Risk and Human Capital Investment: The Legacy of Landmines in Cambodia," PIER Discussion Papers 35., Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research, revised Jul 2016.
    9. Juan Cordoba & Marla Ripoll & Xiying Liu, 2019. "Accounting for the International Quantity-Quality Trade-off," 2019 Meeting Papers 156, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Hansen, Casper Worm, 2012. "The relation between wealth and health: Evidence from a world panel of countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 175-176.
    11. Hoque, Mohammad Mainul & King, Elizabeth M. & Montenegro, Claudio E. & Orazem, Peter F., 2020. "Life Expectancy at Birth and Lifetime Education and Earnings," ISU General Staff Papers 202009010700001121, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Goerlach, Joseph-Simon & Alfano, Marco, 2022. "Terrorism, media coverage and education: Evidence from al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya," CEPR Discussion Papers 17322, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Weichun Chen & Judith A. Clarke & Nilanjana Roy, 2014. "Health and wealth: Short panel Granger causality tests for developing countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 755-784, September.
    14. Cohen, D. & Leker, L., 2016. "Testing the Ben-Porath effect through the educational patterns of young cohorts," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 252-262.
    15. Lekfuangfu, Warn N., 2022. "Mortality risk, perception, and human capital investments: The legacy of landmines in Cambodia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Nuarpear Lekfuangfu, 2016. "Mortality Risk and Human Capital Investment: The Legacy of Landmines in Cambodia," PIER Discussion Papers 35, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Casper Worm Hansen, 2012. "Causes of mortality and development: Evidence from large health shocks in 20th century America," Economics Working Papers 2012-29, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    18. Trung V. Vu, 2023. "Life expectancy and human capital: New empirical evidence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 395-412, February.
    19. Hansen, Casper Worm, 2012. "The effect of life expectancy on schooling: Evidence from the international health transition," Discussion Papers on Economics 6/2012, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    20. Emily Oster & Ira Shoulson & E. Ray Dorsey, 2013. "Limited Life Expectancy, Human Capital and Health Investments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1977-2002, August.
    21. Hansen, Casper Worm, 2013. "Life expectancy and human capital: Evidence from the international epidemiological transition," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1142-1152.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; Life expectancy;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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