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  5. The Effect of Education on Adult Mortality and Health: Evidence from Britain

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

The Effect of Education on Adult Mortality and Health: Evidence from Britain

  • Damon Clark
  • Heather Royer
American Economic Review
vol. 103, no. 6, October 2013
(pp. 2087–2120)
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Abstract

There is a strong, positive, and well-documented correlation between education and health outcomes. In this paper, we attempt to understand to what extent this relationship is causal. Our approach exploits two changes to British compulsory schooling laws that generated sharp across-cohort differences in educational attainment. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find the reforms did not affect health although the reforms impacted educational attainment and wages. Our results suggest caution as to the likely health returns to educational interventions focused on increasing educational attainment among those at risk of dropping out of high school, a target of recent health policy efforts.

Citation

Clark, Damon, and Heather Royer. 2013. "The Effect of Education on Adult Mortality and Health: Evidence from Britain." American Economic Review, 103 (6): 2087–2120. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.6.2087

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H52 National Government Expenditures and Education
  • I12 Health Production
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy