Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence

Abstract

There is a large and persistent association between education and health. In this paper, we review what is known about this link. We first document the facts about the relationship between education and health. The education 'gradient' is found for both health behaviors and health status, though the former does not fully explain the latter. The effect of education increases with increasing years of education, with no evidence of a sheepskin effect. Nor are there differences between blacks and whites, or men and women. Gradients in behavior are biggest at young ages, and decline after age 50 or 60. We then consider differing reasons why education might be related to health. The obvious economic explanations-education is related to income or occupational choice-explain only a part of the education effect. We suggest that increasing levels of education lead to different thinking and decision-making patterns. The monetary value of the return to education in terms of health is perhaps half of the return to education on earnings, so policies that impact educational attainment could have a large effect on population health.

Decomposing body mass index gaps between Mediterranean countries: A counterfactual quantile regression analysis

“…16 It should be noted that education can be endogenous to BMI (Cutler and Lleras-Muney, 2006). Evidence on causal effects of education on BMI is still inconclusive (Arendt, 2005).…”

Population ageing in Sweden: the effect of change in educational composition on the future number of older people suffering severe ill-health

“…There is evidence for a causal effect of education on health according to results from several studies (Cutler and Lleras-Muney 2006). Possible explanations of this causality could be found using both the life-course perspective (Ben-Shlomo and Kuh 2002;Lundberg1993;Kåreholt 2001;Hayward 2004) and different material, behavioural (i.e.…”

Mental disorders and subsequent educational attainment in a US national sample

“…Effects of mental disorders on early termination of schooling could lead to lifelong decrements in economic and social functioning as well as in the poor health known to be associated with low socio-economic status (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2006;Freudenberg et al, 2007;Fronstin, Greenberg, & Robins, 2005;Huurre, Aro, Rahkonen, & Komulainen, 2006;Koivusilta, Rimpela, Rimpela, & Vikat, 2001). As part of a larger investigation of the adverse effects of mental disorders (Merikangas et al, 2007), this study examines associations between early-onset mental disorders and subsequent termination of schooling in a large nationally representative survey of the US adult population.…”