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Education, Cognition and Health: Evidence from a Social Experiment

Author

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  • Meghir, Costas

    (Yale University, IFS and NBER)

  • Palme, Mårten

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)

  • Simeonova, Emilia

    (Tufts University, Princeton University and NBER)

Abstract

We examine how an education policy intervention - the introduction of a comprehensive school in Sweden that increased the number of compulsory years of schooling, affected cognitive and non-cognitive skills and long-term health. We use administrative and survey data including background information, child ability and long-term adult outcomes. We show that education reform increased skills among children, but the effects on long-term health are overall negligible. We demonstrate that effects vary across socio-economic backgrounds and initial skill endowments, with significant improvements in cognition and skills for lower Socio-economic status individuals and lower ability people.

Suggested Citation

  • Meghir, Costas & Palme, Mårten & Simeonova, Emilia, 2013. "Education, Cognition and Health: Evidence from a Social Experiment," Research Papers in Economics 2013:10, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2013_0010
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    Cited by:

    1. Radim Bohácek & Jesús Bueren & Laura Crespo & Pedro Mira & Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2018. "Inequality in Life Expectancies across Europe," Working Papers wp2018_1810, CEMFI.
    2. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    3. Davide Azzolini & Loris Vergolini, 2014. "Tracking, Inequality and Education Policy. Looking for a Recipe for the Italian Case," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2014-08, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    4. David Madden, 2016. "Do schooling reforms improve long-term health?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 306-306, October.
    5. Bastian Ravesteijn & Hans van Kippersluis & Mauricio Avendano & Pekka Martikainen & Hannu Vessari & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2017. "The Impact of Later Tracking on Mortality by Parental Income in Finland," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-030/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Ninja Ritter Klejnstrup & Joel Silas Lincoln, 2018. "Formal education, malaria preventive behaviour, and children’s malarial status in Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series 009, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Cutler, David M. & Huang, Wei & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2015. "When does education matter? The protective effect of education for cohorts graduating in bad times," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 63-73.
    8. Govert E. Bijwaard & Mikko Myrskylä & Per Tynelius & Finn Rasmussen, 2017. "Educational gain in cause-specific mortality: accounting for confounders," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2017-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Bijwaard, G.E. & Jones, A.M., 2015. "Intelligence and the Mortality Difference by Education: Selection or mediation?," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/07, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    10. Govert e. Bijwaard & Hans Van Kippersluis, 2016. "Efficiency of Health Investment: Education or Intelligence?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1056-1072, September.
    11. Govert E. Bijwaard & Per Tynelius & Mikko Myrskylä, 2019. "Education, cognitive ability, and cause-specific mortality: A structural approach," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 217-232, May.
    12. Leuven, Edwin & Plug, Erik & Rønning, Marte, 2016. "Education and cancer risk," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    13. Madsen, Mia & Andersen, Per K. & Gerster, Mette & Andersen, Anne-Marie N. & Christensen, Kaare & Osler, Merete, 2014. "Are the educational differences in incidence of cardiovascular disease explained by underlying familial factors? A twin study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 182-190.
    14. Hamad, Rita & Elser, Holly & Tran, Duy C. & Rehkopf, David H. & Goodman, Steven N., 2018. "How and why studies disagree about the effects of education on health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of compulsory schooling laws," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 168-178.
    15. Bijwaard, Govert E. & van Kippersluis, Hans & Veenman, Justus, 2015. "Education and health: The role of cognitive ability," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 29-43.
    16. Petter Lundborg & Carl Hampus Lyttkens & Paul Nystedt, 2016. "The Effect of Schooling on Mortality: New Evidence From 50,000 Swedish Twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1135-1168, August.
    17. David Card & Ciprian Domnisoru & Lowell Taylor, 2022. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Evidence from the Golden Age of Upward Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(S1), pages 39-95.
    18. Gabriela Ertola Navajas & Paula A. Lopez Villalba & Martin A. Rossi & Antonia Vazquez, 2022. "The Long-Term Effect of Military Conscription on Personality and Beliefs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-141, March.
    19. Bijwaard, Govert & Jones, Andrew M., 2016. "Cognitive Ability and the Mortality Gradient by Education: Selection or Mediation?," IZA Discussion Papers 9798, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Issidor Noumba & Quentin Lebrun Nzouessah Feunke, 2020. "Parental Education, Household Health, and Household Standard of Living: Evidence from Rural Cameroon," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(7), pages 113-113, July.
    21. Adam M. Lavecchia & Heidi Liu & Philip Oreopoulos, 2014. "Behavioral Economics of Education: Progress and Possibilities," NBER Working Papers 20609, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Bijwaard, Govert E. & Myrskylä, Mikko & Tynelius, Per & Rasmussen, Finn, 2017. "Educational gains in cause-specific mortality: Accounting for cognitive ability and family-level confounders using propensity score weighting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 49-56.
    23. Ninja Ritter Klejnstrup & Joel Silas Lincoln, 2018. "Formal education, malaria preventive behaviour, and children's malarial status in Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-9, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    24. Palme, Mårten & Simeonova, Emilia, 2015. "Does women's education affect breast cancer risk and survival? Evidence from a population based social experiment in education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 115-124.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mortality; cognitive skills; non-cognitive skills; education reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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