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The Effect of Education on Health Cross-Country Evidence

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  • Raquel Fonseca Benito
  • Yuhui Zheng

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the causal relationship between education and health outcomes. It combines three surveys (SHARE, HRS and ELSA) that include nationally representative samples of people aged 50 and over from thirteen OECD countries. It uses variation in the timing of educational reforms across these countries as an instrument for education. Using IV-Probit models, it finds causal evidence that more years of education lead to a lower probability of reporting poor health and lower prevalence for diabetes and hypertension. These effects are larger than those from the Probit, that do not control for the endogeneity of education. The relationship between education and cancer is positive in both Probit and IV-Probit models. The causal impacts of education on other chronic conditions as well as functional status are not established using IV-Probit models.

Suggested Citation

  • Raquel Fonseca Benito & Yuhui Zheng, 2011. "The Effect of Education on Health Cross-Country Evidence," Working Papers WR-864, RAND Corporation.
  • Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-864
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    Cited by:

    1. Amin, Vikesh & Behrman, Jere R. & Kohler, Hans-Peter, 2015. "Schooling has smaller or insignificant effects on adult health in the US than suggested by cross-sectional associations: New estimates using relatively large samples of identical twins," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 181-189.
    2. Xie, Shiqing & Mo, Taiping, 2014. "The impact of education on health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-18.
    3. 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.
    4. Margherita Fort & Nicole Schneeweis & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2014. "More Schooling, More Children? Compulsory Schooling and Fertility in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 5068, CESifo.
    5. Jared C. Carbone & Snorre Kverndokk, 2016. "Individual Investments in Education and Health: Policy Responses and Interactions," CESifo Working Paper Series 6154, CESifo.
    6. Rahman Olanrewaju Raji, 2020. "Nutrition Intake, Health Status, Education and Economic Growth: A Causality Investigation," Econometric Research in Finance, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, vol. 5(2), pages 79-102, December.
    7. James Poterba & Steven Venti & David A. Wise, 2013. "Health, Education, and the Postretirement Evolution of Household Assets," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 297-339.
    8. Carbone, Jared C. & Kverndokk, Snorre, 2014. "Individual investments in education and health," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2014:1, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    9. Pradeep Kumar Choudhury, 2015. "Explaining the Role of Parental Education in the Regional Variations in Infant Mortality in India," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 544-572, September.
    10. Crespo, Laura & López-Noval, Borja & Mira, Pedro, 2014. "Compulsory schooling, education, depression and memory: New evidence from SHARELIFE," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 36-46.
    11. Adediyan, Aderopo Raphael & Aghomo-omon, Lydia Bosede, 2021. "Maternal Mortality and the Role of Quality Education," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(2), April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; health; causality; compulsory schooling laws;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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