Education and health: long-run effects of peers, tracking and years

Abstract

We investigate two parallel school reforms in Sweden to assess the long-run health effects of education. One reform only increased years of schooling, while the other increased years of schooling but also removed tracking leading to a more mixed socioeconomic peer group. By differencing the effects of the parallel reforms we separate the effect of de-tracking and peers from that of more schooling. We find that the pure years of schooling reform reduced mortality and improved current health. Differencing the effects of the reforms shows significant differences in the estimated impacts, suggesting that de-tracking and subsequent peer effects resulted in worse health.

Revisiting Sweden's comprehensive school reform: Effects on education and earnings

“…Assuming that the effects are driven solely by the increase in years of education, the estimated returns to education from the compulsory schooling extension lie around 3%. This is in line with recent estimates based on compulsory schooling laws in Europe (Devereux & Hart, 2010;Fischer, Gerdtham, et al, 2020;Pischke & Von Wachter, 2008). 12…”

The health returns of attending university for the marginally eligible student

“…In support of our findings, different education-induced health effects across genders have been observed elsewhere in the literature on education and health (Dursun et al, 2018;Fischer et al, 2021;Gathmann et al, 2015;Lindskog & Durevall, 2021). Fischer et al (2021) for exemple, conclude that there are substantial negative impacts of mixed peer groups for males, but not for females.…”

“…Utilizing the co‐existence of two different school systems within the same country, Fischer et al. ( 2021 ) analyze the extent to which different socio‐economic groups are affected by de‐tracking, that is, moving away from the system of separating students by ability in secondary school. Contrary to the results of several previous studies, their findings suggest that de‐tracking and the resulting increase in mixed peer groupings, is harmful to health across the board, and not only in higher socioeconomic groups.…”

“…However, there is currently no evidence for how university affects the health of this marginal group. A further contribution of our analysis is that we also consider males and females separately, as several previous studies have been found important differences across the genders, in terms of their health responses to changes in education (Fischer et al., 2021 ; Gathmann et al., 2015 ; Van Kippersluis et al., 2011 ).…”

“…For example, Robalino and Macy (2018) suggest peers have a significant impact on the prevalence of smoking among high-school students, and Gaviria and Raphael (2001) find peer influence plays an important role in drug use and alcohol consumption among 10th graders. Utilizing the co-existence of two different school systems within the same country, Fischer et al (2021) analyze the extent to which different socio-economic groups are affected by de-tracking, that is, moving away from the system of separating students by ability in secondary school. Contrary to the results of several previous studies, their findings suggest that de-tracking and the resulting increase in mixed peer groupings, is harmful to health across the board, and not only in higher socioeconomic groups.…”