The Effect of Education on Health and Mortality: A Review of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence.

Abstract

Education is strongly associated with better health and longer lives. However, the extent to which education causes health and longevity is widely debated. We develop a human capital framework to structure the interpretation of the empirical evidence. We then review evidence on the causal effects of education on mortality and its two most common preventable causes: smoking and obesity. We focus attention on evidence from Randomized Controlled Trials, twin studies, and quasi-experiments. There is no convincing evidence of an effect of education on obesity, and the effects on smoking are only apparent when schooling reforms affect individuals' track or their peer group, but not when they simply increase the duration of schooling. An effect of education on mortality exists in some contexts but not in others, and seems to depend on (i) gender; (ii) the labor market returns to education; (iii) the quality of education; and (iv) whether education affects the quality of individuals' peers.

The effect of college education on health and mortality: Evidence from Canada

“…Using quasi-experimental variation in education, a burgeoning literature has attempted to assess whether education improves health and lowers mortality. Galama et al (2017) S. and the Netherlands, other studies point to little or no effect of mandatory high school and primary schooling on mortality (Albouy and Lequien, 2009;Clark and Royer, 2013;Meghir et al, 2018). But much less is known about the effect of college education on health and mortality.…”

Developmental Origins of Health Inequality

“…In the U.S., decreasing disability rates are, in fact, mainly experienced by the most educated Schoeni et al (2008). In essence, each additional year of schooling correlates with better health (Lleras-Muney, 2005), although there is no clear evidence of a causal relationship (Galama et al, 2018).…”

Przestrzenna analiza kapitału ludzkiego w obszarze zdrowia w Polsce w powiązaniu z sytuacją społeczno‑ekonomiczną w regionach

“…Barro, Sala-i-Martin, 1992;Barro 2001;Henley, 2005;Churski, 2008;Wójcik, 2008). Uwzględniając dowody naukowe na to, że zdrowie jest kluczowym komponentem strukturalnym kapitału ludzkiego, pozostającym w interakcji z innymi społeczno-ekonomicznymi czynnikami determinującymi kondycję i efektywność całej gospodarki (Galama, Lleras-Muney, van Kippersluis, 2018), w artykule skoncentrowano się na kwestii kapitału zdrowia jako czynniku różnicującym przestrzeń społeczno-gospodarczą w Polsce. Za interesujące uznano poszukiwanie odpowiedzi na pytanie o to, jaki jest poziomu tego zasobu w poszczególnych jednostkach terytorialnych w Polsce i czy przyczyn istniejących nierówności można poszukiwać w jego strukturze.…”